Feb 1st Cluster
by Rangerskirt
Summary: On February 1st, 1958 an awful migraine powerful enough to make someone pass out afflicted four people around the world at the exact same time. Plagued with pain and odd dreams the four soon find themselves dealing with new powers at first beyond their controls, and constant invasion of privacy with their newly found psychic connection.
1. Chapter 1

South East England - 11:08 pm - February 1st, 1958

Moonlight was the only thing illuminating through the half-open shades of the well-sized apartment room, splitting pain was what awoke young Charles Xavier from his already light sleep. He shot up from his sleeping position with a loudly audible gasp, covered in cold drips of sweat and held both hands over his eyes and started to rub fingers desperately over his forehead. Pain had started in his forehead and had quickly started to spread through what felt like his entire head.

The excruciating burning sensation didn't cease anytime soon, in fact, the pain continued on for what felt like hours for Charles before it became even more intense and all he could remember was his eyes beginning to fuzz into darkness and pass out. Waking up to his alarm that next morning Charles' blue eyes snapped open in an instant, his head was still killing him but it had dulled to what felt like a migraine instead of the pain that had been so bad he had passed out from it.

Letting his alarm beep blaring over and over he finally reached and hit his shaky fingers over the snooze button without getting up. His entire body felt dry not unlike last night, but it felt sticky and stuck to his bed sheets that his own sweat had somewhat glued him to. Very slowly and cautiously Charles pushed himself to sit up and made a face at the feeling of being stuck to the sheets and proceeded to peel himself from the fabric so that he could go shower the feeling off and maybe soothe some of the aches inside of his mind.

Showering did help, but not with his head, powering through the feeling Charles cleaned up and dressed himself in a blue cardigan. Made himself a simple breakfast of tea and some buttered toast before grabbing his readied bookbag and heading out the door for his usual routine day.

College, and school in general, had always been easy for Charles. He was quite brilliant and at the young age of nineteen, he was close to finishing up his degree in the Genetics field. So the fact that he had a migraine that he was nursing throughout the day and had a hard time paying attention to teachers didn't worry him much, a single day of spacing out wouldn't harm his grades any.

"You feeling ok today Charles? You're awfully quiet." he'd heard several of those throughout the day and quite a few comments similar to that by his friends at school and one concerned Professor. "I'm fine, just another one of my migraines made an appearance last night." was always his response, migraines were nothing new to the young scholar and he'd dealt with them on occasion through his entire life.

A migraine wasn't a big deal to him, the pain last night had been very startling but Charles was trying to brush it off as a bad dream or an overreaction to waking up and feeling the pain...it had never happened before but it was over so he just wanted to forget it. Drifting through his day, which included picking up groceries and having a pleasant chat with the usual flirtatious girl at Register 4 with the brown hair, he finally headed home.

That night was no better rest for Charles than the previous one, he didn't wake up in searing pain but instead felt awake as he dreamt of a place. The room he had stepped into was a mixture of decor in reds and golds, the style and the way the tables were set up near a bar and with a big dance floor behind them made it look like a ballroom.

Sitting at the bar, was a woman, and she was facing towards the bar and away from Charles as she sipped on some fruity drink. Stepping to the side to get a side glance at her the woman looked no older than mid-thirties with fair skin, bright blond and long hair and wearing purely white clothing. Her boots notably had some rhinestones speckled around and white fuzz around the edges.

Setting down her pink colored drink she tilted her head to show him an award-winning smile, "Well? Don't just stand there sugar, come sit down so I can get a better look at you." Unlinking her feet from how they were crossed the woman pushed the stool next to her out a few inches as an invitation for Charles to sit, he hesitated but finally took the seat offered.

Clearing his throat of the lump that had formed and kept him silent, finally he said, "My name is-" "Charles." the blond woman cut him off though with her smile never fading. Extending one of her hands she touched his cheek ever so gently, stroking her thumb over his freckled cheek. "I know who you are, you're beautiful...you're all so beautiful."

The hand didn't feel threatening, in fact Charles felt more relaxed now than he had moments ago even as she retracted the touch. "I-I'm dreaming, hah.."

"Yes, and no. I don't have much time until my consciousness fades and I'll simply be an echo so I need to tell you a few things Charles. You're going to start experiencing some things, things with your own mind and things with other people...specifically three other people. I need you to know that you aren't crazy." Her smile had softened and every moment that flew by seemed to make it shrink on her face.

"I've had many children over the years, but you are the first who is like me sugar...I'm happy I got to meet you before I fade away." Feeling a shudder run through his shoulders at those last words Charles swallowed hard around the lump that was trying to reform in his throat, "What do you mean fade away, you're dying?"

"Yes, I've used up the rest of my energy giving birth to my last four children. Charles, I have to go now but remember, you are _not_ crazy, the things about to happen to you are completely real. The people you are going to meet are _real_ and they will be more important to you than you will realize." The beautiful woman then pushed herself to stand up from the bar and tipped her head back to swallow the last of her fruity drink with grace.

"Wait wait! This feels way too real even though I'm pretty sure I'm dreaming, what even is your name!?" Charles said a bit loudly due to his anxiety starting to rise, he felt like something was about to happen. Like he could physically feel Emma starting to fade even though she looked and felt real right in front of him. "How rude of me, my name is Emma Frost. Thank you for being born, I love you Charles."

Similar to the previous day, Charles awoke to his blaring alarm, sitting up quickly with dry sweat stuck to his body along with his having been fresh bed sheets. Great, he'd have to wash them again. That thought quickly wiped from his mind and he hit the snooze button, then let himself slide back down into his bed. Staring at the ceiling Charles touched a hand over his heart, it ached as if the pain from his mind had spread over to his chest.

No, it was different, less of a physical pain and more of an emotional one. "Minds can't make up faces right? But I would definitely remember seeing someone like her if I'd met her..." his soft and croaky morning voice muttered to himself trying to rationalize all of this. After a short time of no succes Charles decided it was something best thought over with a nice hot shower.

Southern Wisconsin, US - 5:08 pm - February 1st, 1958

Her entire evening had been a drag, Raven could remember thinking several times that she wished someone would trip her and she would fall so that she could get out of finishing her late shift for that evening. The chain restaurant she worked at had been working her to the bone for the last few months since they'd lost a lot of their younger employees who had gone back to school.

At nineteen she still didn't have her life figured out but she was more than happy to be out of the orphanage she'd been brought up in, even if it meant living with three other girls in a really shitty apartment across town and working where she did. She'd been working there over a year and had plenty of experience, but that didn't mean she didn't get exhausted from rude customers and lousy tippers.

Stopping by the bathroom for a quick five-minute break before she would have to get back to running tables Raven washed her hands and proceeded in tying up her long blond hair into a ponytail, she regretted not doing it earlier in the day. A lot of the time she had noticed that men would tip her better when her hair was down, but she could focus much easier with her hair up and out of her face.

Rubbing her hands over both of her cheeks Raven sighed loudly and then put on a big smile since the bathroom was empty, "Alright, just a few more hours and you're home free girl. You can do this!" Giving herself a little pep-talk she pulled out a cherry tube of lip balm to apply and stuff it back into her jean pocket, only to have her tiny woman pockets decide to spit it back out when she didn't push it in far enough and it went tumbling along the bathroom floor.

"Dammit." Walking over she crouched down, trying to avoid touching the floor at all costs but reached out for her lip balm. "Ow, uhn...where did that come from?" she muttered and retracted her hand and pressed it against her forehead. A burning pain had spasmed through the front of her head and wasn't relenting, in fact it felt like it was spreading all over her head.

Her bare knees painfully hit the tiled floor and with a last little effort to not flash someone if they came into the bathroom Raven pushed her skirt down once before the pain became too much and her vision was fading. She felt the small crack of her head hit the grimy tiles of the bathroom before Raven lost all consciousness.

When she woke up it wasn't until the next morning when she was able to peel open her blue colored eyes to look at the sterilized white ceiling of the hospital room she was laying in. Her long hair was splayed out beneath her on the bed and she raised a hand to rub one of her temples, "Nnn.." she groaned, a nurse noticed and peeked her head in. "You're awake." with a soft smile.

"Don't worry, your co-workers brought you in when they found you collapsed on the bathroom floor. From what they told us you've been overworking yourself a ton lately so you were probably just a mixture of exhausted and dehydrated." well that explained why she was hooked up to an IV as she flicked her eyes from the IV bag and back to the nurse.

"Um...thank you? Does that mean I can leave?" The fiery feeling inside of her head was still bothering her but she chalked it up to hitting her head on that damn disgusting tile floor.

"Most likely, the Doctor will be in soon to check you out but I'm sure he'll release you. I hope you have a good rest of your day Miss." the nurse said politely and straightened her rainbow scrubs once before leaving the room. As promised the Doctor checked her head and reflexes, just a few things before she was cleared before being sent back out on her own.

Getting a taxi and heading back to her apartment Raven headed inside, kicking the door closed behind her and locking it with habit before hanging up her bag and coat. It had felt nice to get out of that ugly hospital gown but she was very ready to get into some comfortable pajamas and just sit on the couch for the rest of the day and rest, after all she wasn't letting something like this stop her from going back to work tomorrow. She would have gone in for another evening shift today if her doctor hadn't scolded her so heavily and told her to rest up.

Pulling on some flannel and blue PJs Raven sprawled herself out on the loveseat and lumpy couch her roommates owned but rarely used. The three of them were good people, but like her they just had been dealt a bad start to life and been having a harder time getting on their feet. Also like her they seemed to have given up somewhat on making things better and instead chose to stay in a state of purgatory type of life, enjoying what they could when once in awhile one of them would manage a small thing of weed, and otherwise working their butts off at crappy low paying jobs to live.

Snagging the remote for their small tv that was so old it still had bunny ear antennas but somehow had been rigged up to work through sheer determination on Irene's part, who was one of her roommates and definitely the one Raven was closest with. Flicking it on Raven barely paid attention to what she'd chosen, the noise was just comforting and she listened as the soap opera played and she curled up with a pillow and blanket laying on the other side of the couch.

A day of rest probably did her body good, especially since she was still nursing the migraine she had mentioned to the doctor. He had suggested what she had assumed, that it was from hitting her head when she'd passed out the previous day and if the pain didn't cease or desist after a few days or grew worse, then he would want to take some brain images to check that everything was alright.

Napping throughout the day Raven had a very lazy morning and afternoon. Hearing the door open and boots shuffling inside Raven found a smile pulling at her face. "Welcome home Irene!" Stepping around the hallway wall and into their small living room then stood Raven's roommate and arguably best friend, Irene Adler, who was gorgeous even in her fast food work attire and her short brown hair shuffled under the work assigned hat.

Smiling back Irene walked over and plopped herself down onto the opposite end of the couch, giving enough way for Raven to pull her feet out from under her butt and move them into her lap. "You scared me half to death when I got that message on the machine from you...in the hospital. You doing ok Rave?" Her warm hands fiddled with Raven's toes playfully through the blanket.

"Feeling much better other than a headache, no idea what came over me but...I guess resting for today was good for me."

"Damn right it is, you work harder than Bobby, Kitty and me all combined! Just make sure to tell me if you need anything, you know I'm here for you." a warmth spread through Raven's chest hearing that, if she could consider anyone in this world family it would be Irene. "Thanks, I know. If you're not busy I'd really just like to sit on the couch with you and complain about customers and maybe watch some of this drama show that's playing a marathon."

"Love to." the other girl smiled and tore off her hand that smelled heavily of frying grease.

Both girls fell asleep later that evening, they had moved to be sitting next to each other and pulled several of the blankets from the house around them, they didn't have much money to spend on the heating bill so there were blankets for days hidden around. Cuddled up together Irene's head was resting on Raven's shoulder, and Raven's shoulder leaning back against the couch, her long blond hair dangling over the back as both of them snored gently.

Raven never dreamt, never had or at least could never remember her dreams. That night was different, she had opened her eyes and suddenly she had been standing in a large ballroom that was coated in layers of red and gold trimming. Just faintly Raven could swear she felt rocking under her feet, as if they were on the ocean but she couldn't see anything past the walls of red and the door that was spray painted a tacky gold.

Turning her eyes towards the bar she noticed there was a woman standing there that she hadn't seen before. Wearing all white, the outfit was a bit revealing but the blond woman could pull it off easily, even from a side view the other blond was a bombshell. "...Hello?" she called over, "Am I dreaming?" Raven looked at her hands and clenched them a few times, as if testing her senses if things felt normal.

Finally speaking the other woman said, "My name is Emma Frost. You're Raven aren't you sugar? Come here." she extended a hand as an invitation to come closer.

It was odd to describe but Raven felt no menace coming from this woman, Emma as she called herself, so she approached and took the hand to shake. Emma started laughing, "How polite! I love that about you Raven, I wish I could get to know you better but I don't have much time. I still need to greet the others and my time is fading."

Tilting her head in confusion Raven pulled her hand back, "Fading? Others?"

"I'm not much longer for this world, as I've given too much of my strength to gift my four last children with something...special. You are one of them, my last daughter. I want you to know that along with the migraine sticking around, you're going to experience some oddities with your body and...probably see some people that seem not to be there."

Clearing her throat the younger blond put a hand up right away, "Ok I'm dreaming, this is just stress getting into my head I'm sure."

"Not at all, everything that is going to happen to you is going to be very real. You aren't crazy sugar, this power is going to be great but it will be hard for you." Looking a bit frustrated with herself Emma said, "I fear I spent too much time with one of your brothers and I have to cut this shorter than with him. I'm sorry, just know that you aren't crazy, and I love you so much...I know it was hard and you feel abandoned by your biological parents but if I weren't about to fade into an echo...I would have loved to be there for you in every way you needed."

Feeling a slightly panicked emotion beating inside of her chest Raven reached a handout and touched Emma's shoulder, "Wait, don't go I-I feel weird!" But the older woman took Raven's soft hand in both of her own warmly and squeezed it in a reassuring way, "Take good care of the others, they're capable but very much...boys, you know how boys get into trouble without a strong lady to beat their asses once in a while."

"Wait!" The younger girl cried out but before she could grab Emma, Raven found herself awake and having jolted up from the couch and slipped, falling onto the carpet floor from tripping in the many blankets that were still wrapped around her and Irene. Her cuddle partner had woken up from the swift movement, "Nnn hey, you ok Rave?"

Looking around frantically Raven could feel the pain in her head festering a bit and she shook her head, "I have no idea..."

FBI Headquarters, Washington D.C, US - 6:08 pm - February 1st, 1958

There wasn't much to say about Hank McCoy, at least not if you asked him about himself. He often felt too scrawny for nineteen and that all of the muscle he should have had gone to his brain instead, having graduated Harvard at the age of fifteen. The young man barely managed to grow scuff on his chin and cheeks which infuriated him to no end, same went for his inability to get himself to put contacts into his eyes to rid himself of the glasses he'd been wearing pretty much out of the womb.

Hank didn't do much outside of work at the FBI building in Washington D.C, where he'd been working for the last two years and planned to be for a very long time if not forever. He liked the work well enough, fixing computers and running security for the building and every so often taking care of minor injuries when the agents there neglected themselves.

Not being much of a people person Hank was very shy, he had a hard time connecting with others even if it was obvious the people were making conversation with him.

Having been at work already two more hours than he'd been scheduled Hank finally was packing up his office, putting papers away and filing them in the right places and shutting down his computers properly and leaving the ones up that the agents would need through the night. Not forgetting to grab his pager, it felt old fashioned but he was technically on call most nights in case servers went critical and he would need to rush in to save the day.

It wasn't as if he didn't feel appreciated, Hank was constantly thanked at work by most of the agents, on a few occasions they had even bought him cake or donuts and he hadn't had the heart to tell him that he wasn't that fond of sweets like that.

No, he just usually preferred to be by himself and not to connect with others. Not even calling his parents very often who lived a few states over in Indiana.

Content with his clean up Hank grabbed the keys for his office, ready to leave, go home and sleep for a while before getting up early and coming back to do his whole work routine over again like every day. Instead, as he grabbed his keys a fiery pain blossomed through the front of his head, quickly pulling off his glasses Hank held a hand to his brow.

Lists of things that could have set off such a pain started to list through his mind, if he stopped by the med lab quickly he could probably find something to numb it so that he could get home and sleep it all off. Before he could even make it to his office door and open it, Hank's head became so overwhelming that he fell over and passed out quickly.

Never having been one to tolerate pain that greatly Hank awoke during the night and found himself unfound and unmoved. Struggling to get up he groaned and still held his pained head, "Guess everyone thought I was just having another late night and didn't want to bother me..." he smiled a little bitterly to himself, it was his own fault for not socializing more. If he did then maybe someone would have stopped by to say goodnight to him and found him passed out on the ground of the office.

Med bay would be locked and Hank really didn't feel like filling out an incident report so he proceeded in locking up and going home. Driving a little quickly in hopes that he didn't have another spell and passed out or get dizzy while he drove, maybe not the smartest thing for a genius to do but he did it anyway.

Living only fifteen minutes from work Hank owned his home already even at nineteen years of age, people often let him know how jealous they were of what he'd accomplished so young and Hank usually shrugged it off. Walking into his home and passing the almost unused living room, kitchen and several other rooms the young man made his way to his bedroom and curled up into the red flannel sheets.

Fidgeting or about an hour Hank managed a short nap and awoke at three in the morning before heading downstairs and going straight back to work. Stopping by his usual vending machines the teen bought several bottles of coffee and a few ready-meals he could pop into the microwave later when his stomach would start to growl.

Walking past the early morning break room one of the younger women employees smiled and gestured a wave, "In really early again today Hank?" Nodding as he sipped at his coffee the young genius made as little small talk as possible. "Yeah, got a few major things to work out in the system today so I thought I'd get a head start on it." Then proceeded in walking away.

"Ah ok, see you later if you come to the lunch room!" she called, it wasn't the first time she had invited him to eat with her and the others during lunch but each time he declined.

Making it back to his safe haven Hank downed almost his entire first coffee, hoping that pumping enough caffeine into his bloodstream would make the ache inside of his brain go away. No such luck for the young man, the ache in his head only seemed to hurt more with the caffeine and for the first in over a year Hank decided to leave earlier than six at night.

Only a little past noon Hank cleaned up his things, double checked all of the important systems and left with a mutter to himself, "Maybe I just need more sleep...it can't be stress, I know I'm not sick and it can't be anything serious. So why won't this headache just go away and let me work?"

All of the coffee kept Hank awake for another two hours even after he'd gotten home that he had fidgeted around his home cleaning a few things and then messing around with his personal computers. Falling asleep at his desk Hank began to dream, which to him was nothing new since he often dreamt, but never anything like what he was about to see.

Looking around Hank immediately frowned deeply, it looked like he was in a giant ballroom which meant parties, why would he dream about a party when that was the last thing on his mind. Normally he dreams about scientific discoveries or formulas, ok perhaps once or twice he'd dreamed of some of the beautiful girls at work like the one that often greeted him in the morning. But not for quite some time and never in a giant red room like the one he was dreaming about.

"Hey there sugar." said a beautiful blond woman, Hank was starting to think maybe he was wrong...maybe this was one of those dreams but just made stir crazy from his headache combined with the coffee. "I'm not a normal dream Hank, and no I'm not here for that sort of dream. I'm very real...at least for now, I am fading away.

Keeping hid distance there were possibilities running through the young genius' brain, they all just chalked up to him having a dream.

"I don't have a lot of time here Hank, my name is Emma Frost." she took a few long strides towards him and when the blond came close Hank took a tentative step back away. "Oh don't be shy sweetie, I want to get a good look at you before I have to leave." her eyes held a warmth to them that was almost motherly.

"Not much of a talker are you? That's ok, I already know a decent amount about you. You're brilliant...so smart and handsome. I'm so proud of you and all that you've accomplished, and of everything that you are going to accomplish." Meeting her eyes Hank blinked rapidly, "This doesn't feel like a dream...I've never wanted or needed confirmation that anyone thought much of me...but if you're any type of real how are you talking to me in a dream?"

A small giggle bubbled from Emma's lips, "You're a scientist, I'm sure you have many theories about abilities that are akin to almost magic. That's how, but I have limited time so let me tell you first off that I love you. You and your siblings are the closest things to children I can ever have again and I'm so happy I get to meet you before I fade."

Trying to take in every word that Emma told him Hank nodded, "Ah, it's...nice to meet you too?"

"I'm glad you say so, because me being here means your life is about to get harder. Soon your body is going to be doing some odd things, you're going to see more people almost like me that don't seem to be there even if you can interact with them." she started to explain, "You aren't crazy and soon things will become more clear. You just need to get through that initial hurdle and Hank...please don't push them away like you do everyone else."

Shrugging Hank immediately turned his eyes away, not making contact and becoming more self-conscious. "I don't push people away and I don't know these people you're talking about. I might really not like them."

"Trust me sugar, they're going to be like family to you, or closer in your situation. Try to trust me, I have to go now so please, be safe sweetie."

Despite the pounding in his chest that made Hank feel anxious he didn't say anything back and just watched as the dream faded away from him and he woke up at his desk. Staring into the dead but bright face of his desktop computer of the page he'd last left open. "Abilities...?"

Berlin, Germany - 12:08 am - February 2nd, 1958

Stepping through the doors to his messy apartment Erik tipped his head back and finished off the bottle of cold beer he'd been drinking and tossed it onto the floor where a few others and cans were left abandoned. His apartment was dark inside, just like outside and almost as cold. Earlier that day hadn't been that bad, it had gotten to a nice sunny high of almost 28F, but as the sunset and the wind picked up the temperature had dropped drastically almost to 0F.

Not that the cold had ever bothered the nineteen-year-old young man before, he'd lived in Germany his whole life and there had been times when he'd had no apartment or building to flee into from the cold. Just thinking about it Erik scratched his short nails over his forearm that was covered by his long sleeve gray shirt, he could practically feel the numbered tattoo like a scar underneath.

Even at his young age Erik had been through a lot, having been only six when the holocaust ended and his people had been set free of those awful concentration camps. By that age he had already lost all of his family and barely managed to survive himself due to the goodwill of some of the other inhabitants slipping the young child parts of their rations so he would not famish to nothing, borrowing him their ragged blankets so that he would not freeze to death. A lot of those people had died in his stead, he had watched many wither away in front of his young eyes.

Such an experience had hardened and warped him to an extent as it would anyone and the tattoo on his forearm reminded him of that every day. Growing up in foster care after foster care due to his own bad attitude and habits Erik only blamed himself, but had stuck around longest at the end with a harsh man whose wife had begged him for years for a child of her own.

He had taken Erik up in hopes that having an older child around would be less annoying for him but just as pleasing to his wife. Being somewhat right the man had been cruel but also useful, he must have felt some type of bond with Erik since he'd taught the boy all he knew about safecracking and stealing precious items in that sense.

That was where Erik was to the day, he would take jobs on occasion, some big and some small, sometimes for himself and sometimes for others as long as he would be paid well for what he was retrieving. Still, he didn't have much money, spending it quickly in both paying ahead for his apartment and on parties, drinking, gambling, anything pleasurable to him at the moment.

That evening he had just come back from drinking his evening away at the local bar called The Dying Star, his favorite, and where he always flirted with the older bar waitress there named Magda. She was very used to Erik popping in and staying long evenings, talking her ears off about this and that, she listened dutifully and made sweet conversation, she was a very kind woman.

Never once had he taken her up on the offer to take her home or vice versa though, it wasn't that he didn't want to but simply that Erik respected her too much. The young man knew he was very messed up, he would mess her up and if he slept with her then surely...surely he was going to fall deeply in love with her and never be able to let go. Then again he was drunk whenever he went there so what did he know what he was feeling.

Collapsing into his favorite leather armchair Erik leaned his head back and closed his eyes, "My head is killing me..." the pain was nothing at first, Erik had many normal days where he would wake up to pain from hangovers or where he would be unlucky and get the shit beaten out of him. That tended to happen when you worked in the type of lines that Erik did and had a smart mouth with no filter.

The pain only increased and spread, still he wasn't worried but moved to hunch over and hang his head between his knees with a small grunt of pain. "Dammit, I didn't even drink that much today!" With his vision fading all he could do was try to curl up in his chair and wait for sleep to overtake him in that position so that he wouldn't fall to the floor and wake up in a pile of his own vomit. Not again.

Waking up the next morning Erik lifted his arm to find that it was closer to afternoon than to morning, he swiftly wiped the drool from his lips and chin and stumbled into a standing position. "Good thing I don't fucking have to work today, my head is killing me..." he spoke to himself, often if he didn't then he wouldn't be talking to anyone anytime soon.

Instead of spending his day at the bar, more because he was close to being broke than because he didn't want to, Erik spent the last of his money on some dinner to cook up later and his favorite twelve pack of beer.

Evening came quickly and soon enough Erik's apartment was dark again but still he did not turn any lights on, he was just going to be getting drunk so why bother his senses with the light after all. The cold was starting to invade as well so after blowing warm air through his cupped hands for the tenth time Erik gave in and put some wood in his small stove to not only cook his dinner but warm the place.

Not too long after eating and finishing his beer Erik had curled up in his armchair and fallen asleep listening to the slow crackling of his stoves fire.

Normally when Erik dreamed, it was not of good things, the camps were the usual. Or maybe even his mother where it would start out great and turn twisted with her blood spread over the floors of a room. So when he looked around and found himself in a fancy ballroom coated with colors of red and a golden colored door, he blinked and rubbed his eyes in disbelief.

"Weird but...not unpleasant I guess. Where's the party at?" he muttered before a voice to the side answered him, "Erik, about time sugar. I've been waiting for you. My my so handsome and tall, taller than I'd guessed after you were such a tiny runt." An older but beautiful blond woman said with a warm but slightly cheeky smile on her face. "My name is Emma Frost."

"Alright?" he cocked an eyebrow and expected more. "I don't have much time Erik so I'll try to make this brief before I fade away. You're going to be experiencing some...oddities with your body soon and your mind. Just know that you aren't crazy, it's all going to be real, even the people you see that don't seem like they could really be there."

Erik didn't look like he was believing her one bit so Emma sighed gently, "I knew you were the stubborn one so I should have expected this. I don't think you're going to believe me until you meet the others, there are three and they are going to become important to you. Or at least I hope so, I hope for all of my children to love their Cluster's but I suppose it doesn't always happen."

"Ok lady you're really confusing me here, you show up in this weird room talking about Cluster's and fading away. This all just seems like a fever dream to me, brought on by booze and maybe some bad sausage that I ate." Putting a hand on his hip the young man put off a position of not caring in the least.

"As I said, I don't expect you to believe me since I know you're stubborn. I don't have time to argue semantics or explain much with you, at least not enough that would answer things instead of raising more and more questions. Remember this though, I love you Erik and no matter what you do I am so proud of you." A motherly feeling washed over Erik coming from the young woman named Emma.

Quickly trying to shake off the feeling he frowned and glared at the blond, he didn't want to feel that feeling ever again. Not after what had happened to his own mother, this woman could never replace her. "You love me? I don't even fucking know you! Piss off."

She only smiled though, "Don't worry I won't hold that against you. Take good care of the others, they're going to need your strength and you will need theirs."

His dream was cut short, Erik sat up quickly in his armchair awake as he heard gunshots from a neighboring apartment. It was normal but the sound had been startling enough to jump him out of the dream before he could have said anything more to Emma or learned anything. "Emma Frost, why does that name sound familiar?"

Running a single hand through his short but curly hair Erik muttered also, "I need a shower..." Meandering over to his small bathroom, it was early for Erik's usual sleeping schedule, often enough he slept until at least ten in the morning or later but as he relieved himself at the toilet Erik could feel the early morning chill settling through his bones.

When he was finished he let out a long yawn and stretched his arms far above his head, letting his pants drop to the ground and kicking them off. "A nice hot shower will do me some good." Moving his arms back and forth slowly Erik cracked one of his shoulders and his lower back before snapping his eyes open when he'd heard the sound of his shower suddenly running and steam filling the bathroom out of nowhere.

Behind his eggshell colored curtain, there was a person's shadow moving and a light hum in the air as the water ran. Looking around quickly Erik's instincts told him to grab his nearest weapon which happened to be one of his razor blades for shaving, he held it tightly but was careful not to cut himself with the sharp object. Holding it in a defensive position Erik used his free hand to slowly approach the shower.

Getting within range he grabbed the curtain and yanked it back, revealing a young man close to his age with semi-long brown hair and completely naked since he'd been showering. The other man's eyes grew wide and he screamed loudly before grabbed part of the curtain to cover his lower half, "Who the hell are you and why are you in my bathroom!?"

"Your bathroom, this is _my_ bathroom!" Erik exclaimed back. "No it isn't, are you drunk or something, get the hell out!" the smaller man cried out and hadn't even noticed the razor in Erik's hand, which was being lowered slowly since he felt almost no threat from the young and naked man in his shower. He could easily overpower him with just bare hands.

"What?" Looking around the bathroom he noticed that no longer was it his darkly lit bathroom with the bare essentials. Instead, Erik saw yellow colored walls of a brightly lit bathroom, a shower curtain that had blue swirls on it that he did not recognize at all. "Where in the world am I then..?" Used to speaking to himself a lot Erik wasn't expecting an answer but got one anyways from the frantic young man pulling the curtain back to being closed to hide his naked body.

"An apartment near Oxford University you creep!" Letting the words sink in Erik looked around again before he asked in an exasperated tone, "In...England?"

* * *

A/N: I was really worried writing this that I was going to shortchange Hank and Raven because I'm not used to writing for so many characters in my fics. But I think I did alright, this story is definitely Charles and Erik centric but Hank and Raven are important of course as part of the Cluster-family.

Also, I'm torn right now who I want to deserve being with Raven, Hank or Irene...any preferences out there?

Pretty sure everyone got it also but since they live in different areas of the world they are in different time zones but all of the beginning of their pieces of the chapter is happening at about the same time. I think I got all of the time zones correctly. In fact I did my very best to get all of my facts right that I added to this like dates/times and etc so if you see something that is blatantly wrong or even misspelled or bad grammar please let me know, I'll fix it asap!

(So far the dates/things intentionally changed are 1. That everyone in the Cluster is the same age.)


	2. Chapter 2

South East England - Morning - February 3rd, 1958

Standing in a posh apartment living room in England, Erik stood confused and scratched a hand through the back of his short hair. Not too long ago he had been inside of his own apartment in Berlin, Germany and about to take a shower when suddenly he'd appeared in someone else's bathroom hundreds of miles away within a few blinks of his eyes.

He had been promptly threatened and kicked out of the bathroom as the young man who actually lived there finished his shower. Charles hesitantly peeked around the corner into his living room at the stranger inside of his home, he was spotlessly clean, his hair brushed thoroughly and dressed in one of his usual cardigans. "You're still here..."

Turning to face the other Erik nodded, "I have no idea where I am or how I got here. I'm serious, I was in Berlin just a bit ago. Please stop cowering over there, I promise I won't attack you, I just want to figure this out." Not that he could blame the other for being suspicious it honestly surprised Erik when the young man stepped out and slightly closer to him.

Even more surprising when the other teen extended his hand politely, "My name is Charles Xavier." Extending and gripping Charles' soft hand in his own rough one he answered back, "Erik Lehnsherr." Shoving his hands into his pants pockets Erik walked over to look out the window, he definitely wasn't in Germany anymore, nothing around him looked like that type of architecture or had signs in English.

"So if you were in Berlin, are you speaking German right now?" the young scholar asked, the question perked Erik's intrigue and he was a bit impressed by it. "Yeah, and I don't know how to speak English very well but I can understand you perfectly. Safe to assume you don't speak German do you?" Charles agreed by shaking his head, a curious expression overtaking his features as he scrunched up his forehead.

Thinking the look was just a bit cute Erik stepped back over to the smaller teen, "If I'm dreaming then my mind is really playing tricks on me, first that beautiful blond and now you." The brief flirt seemed to fly right over Charles' head as he didn't react to it, "Blond? Emma Frost? I dreamt of her too actually...this all seems so real for a dream or to be a hallucination from my migraine."

"You've got a migraine too." the German stated more to himself than to Charles, "You are right though. This feels very real physically." Giving a glance towards the clock Charles swore, "Shit! I'm late!" Grabbing his packed book bag that always sat by the door he stopped and turned back, "Just...stay here I'll be back in a few hours and we can figure this out!"

Lifting up his hand Erik shook his head, "No no don't leave me here with this problem, Charles come back here!" as the other teen was out the door and gone.

FBI Headquarters, Washington D.C, US - Early Afternoon - February 3rd, 1958

Having spent the morning researching his brain to the ends of the internet with reliable and unreliable research Hank felt exhausted and finally looked at his fifth coffee and made a face before pushing it away from himself at his desk. There were millions of reports of abilities on the internet and narrowing it by what he knew from what Emma Frost had told him had only knocked off several million.

Most links and resources were completely fake or just completely unfounded but Hank now had started a bookmarks folder for links to his actual decent finds. So far there were only two links stored inside of it and he hadn't even gone through the whole articles so there was still the chance they were crap.

A migraine still sizzled throughout his mind but had either numbed enough or he had just gotten used to it where he had gone to work. Normally he would work on the computer systems all day long and fix tiny bugs or clean the systems so that they were spotless even when they could stand to be left for a week before they would actually need that sort of attention.

It was the first day Hank was almost purely neglecting his duties in favor of researching something for his own gain, questions that were running through his mind like the coffee that ran through his veins. Strong and circulating, but unlike the coffee those questions wouldn't disappear until Hank found answers to make the world feel balanced and right again.

Clicking through a few more links and skimming the articles, which were quickly discarded, Hank heard a noise. The scratching of lead against paper, then being scuffed away with an eraser before the scratching continued. Looking over from his bright computer Hank froze, sitting at the table inside of his lab that he used for spreading papers out for research...sat a beautiful young girl.

She had long blond hair reminiscent of Emma Frost, but other than that looked nothing like her. She hadn't noticed him yet and he took the time to take in her essence, her hair fell around her neck neatly and she was wearing an outfit that resembled waitressing or even a cashier. Her legs were smoothly crossed underneath the table as her eyes were very focused on writing things down inside of her checkbook.

Pushing the glasses more firmly into place on his nose Hank finally cleared his throat, "E-Excuse me...miss? What are you doing in here?" He'd never had a girl inside of his lab before.

Lifting her head quickly like she'd been slapped, her large brown eyes gazed at Hank and then the entire room before she scrambled up to her feet. "Wh-Wha...where am I!?" Opening his mouth to say something the young genius had lost all voice within himself, "I-I-..." was all he managed out.

Approaching him quickly Raven grabbed the front of Hank's shirt, she was quite a good few inches taller than him, "Tell me where I am right now! God, I'm fucking going crazy, I really did hit my head hard when I fell!"

"No, no I'm real!" he managed out, "R-Raven! Um, I'm Hank McCoy, this is the FBI Headquarters of America...My protocol tells me I should be calling for security right now but I'm so excited seeing you I wouldn't dare." a smile pulled up awkwardly on the man's lips. "How did you know my name?" the girl asked and let go of Hank's shirt.

"O-Oh-" he gestured and she sighed before flicking her workplace nametag, "Duh, sorry...Hank McCoy. I didn't mean to grab you I just freaked out a little. My house has been broken into before so my instinct just sort of-"

"It's fine!" he elated and waved his hands, "I don't blame you one bit, like I said I'm just very excited. This is just proof that the dream I had, all of the research I've been looking through this morning is real...it's the most exciting thing that's ever happened to me." It filled Hank with a shot of adrenaline like he'd never felt before.

Shaking her head Raven started to pace, holding her arms tightly to herself, "That's great that you're so excited but I am really scared right now. Burglars I can kick their asses, but how am I supposed to defend myself from this weird...mind crap going on! Why are you looking at me like that?" her voice became harsher and every word she said was a snap.

"Because I can prove that I'm real. Tell me where you live and I'll come see you, in person. That way there will be no question that we're both real and be seeing each other." Realizing just how creepy his words were sounding as Raven's expression changed into almost utter disgust she spat out, "No way you damn creep I'm not telling you where I live."

"Wait that's not what I meant-!" Taking a step closer all of a sudden Raven was gone, no fading, just a blink and the girl before him had suddenly vanished into thin air.

It had been hard to focus after that incident, first Hank had whipped out a brand new notebook and written down everything he could remember about the experience and Raven in general. Afterwards, Hank had taken his seat back at the work computer and tried to work his way through websites and articles again but his brain kept going back to that experience. The feelings had been hard to describe, like a lot of odd emotions he didn't understand trying to hit him all at once.

Fondness was the first thing Hank could think of to describe all of the feelings, he had felt no want to toss her out of his office and instead would have liked to strike up a conversation with the blond woman.

Daydreaming the genius finally snapped himself out of it as the clock turned five o'clock and he decided to head home, he would try to keep more on track with work tomorrow than he had been today. Unless of course, he got another he received another visit from Raven.

Driving down the highway towards home Hank reached to turn on the radio, flicking through until it landed on a Country station, lightly shrugging Hank left it be. "Can you turn that off please sir?" a soothing voice asked from the passenger seat, it was slow and had a British accent to it. "Ah!" Hank panicked and swerved on the road as he spotted the stranger before moving back into his lane, lucky to not have hit anyone but had gotten quite a few angry and deserved honks.

Looking to the other man, then the road, then the man and then back to the road Hank gulped, "H-Hi?" Blue eyes were boring into his side, "My name is Hank McCoy please don't freak out, I'm pretty sure this is all really happening. I met this girl Raven earlier and-and-!"

"Woh hold on there!" the other man said and reached to touch his shoulder in a soothing manner, "So this has happened to you before too? I met someone this morning myself, a man...kind of odd but..." his voice trailed off then only to come back moments later, "Sounds like you're a little more freaked out than I am right now my friend."

With shaking hands Hank swallowed hard, trying to get his body to cooperate with him as he drove more steadily, "Not really freaking out, or maybe I am but not because I'm scared. I'm so excited!" Chuckling deeply the passenger nodded, "Good then, my name is Charles Xavier. It's wonderful to meet you Hank. To be honest, I have no idea how I ended up here, the last thing I was doing was riding in the back of a taxi to get home."

"Fascinating...where do you live?" Mentally scolding himself Hank almost physically winced at his embarrassment of making the same mistake twice of asking strangers flat out where they lived like a giant creep. Charles on the other hand only kept on smiling undeterred, "In England, is this possibly America? I haven't been since I was a child with my parents."

Nodding the anxious feeling of screwing up lessened inside of the young genius' chest. "I was headed home from work." Now that he was calming down Hank sniffed the air, Charles smelled just faintly of booze and realized with the time difference that Charles had probably been out at a bar or something along those lines before getting into his taxi to head home for the evening.

"You said you visited someone else this morning also?" he couldn't help himself from asking. "Oh no, someone visited me though. His name was Erik and he claimed to be from Germany, I could understand him perfectly despite that I don't speak a lick of the language. How intriguing is that?" Starting to smile brightly Hank nodded again, he couldn't agree more with that.

"Something amazing is happening to us...I wonder how many there are of us that are connected like this." Turning off the high way Hank let his hands and mind go on autopilot to steer him home where the rest of his mind was focused on this conversation, just watching Charles in the corner of his eye to make sure the man didn't disappear like Raven had out of nowhere.

"Four of us, that's what Emma told me in a dream. I hate to assume but have you dreamt of her as well?" Charles asked.

"I did, she was very brief about everything she told me. I've just barely started researching for answers to what could be causing this, what it all means." Seeing that Charles was now more occupied with looking outside, and his blue eyes were starting to get tired and droopy Hank cleared his throat trying to keep the man's attention.

"Looks like you're about ready to leave but um...if you meet Raven at any point could you apologize to her for me? I feel like I came on way too strong and excited and freaked her out." Charles eyes gazed at Hank and took in the request, "Of course, if I see her first that is. I'd be happy to let her know. If you see Erik at any point tell him he's never allowed in my bathroom again if he shows up."

Again Hank blinked and Charles was gone from his sight, but at least this time he felt like he'd gotten a halfway decent goodbye conversation.

South East England - 1:11 am - February 4th, 1958

When Charles had returned home from classes he had found his place empty of the stranger named Erik, no sign of him whatsoever. He had even gone outside and looked around, asked a few neighbors if they had seen a man fitting his description but eventually given up. Taking his normal outing Charles had gone to his favorite bar named the Limping Coyote, whose mascot inside was a taxidermist coyote with a bandage wrapped around one of its back legs.

Drinking until his head was nice and warm and swimming Charles had spent his evening flirting with anything that had a nice pair of legs, or arms, or face, or biceps. When he'd taken his taxi home he had a nice conversation with that man from the US, Hank McCoy he could remember the name even though his head that was still blitzed away to an extent.

Charles had made himself dinner, burning it badly but still ate it, before he cleaned the house which was an odd habit he'd always done when he was a bit out of his head and alone. Drinking made his head numb but his legs and body restless, so it took more than an hour before he let himself fall face first into the comfy and clean sheets below him.

"Well well, I hadn't even asked you to bed yet and yet here you are." a deep voice emanated from the side, Charles shot up swiftly in the bed that was no longer his. The whole room around him was not his, it was dark and cold seeped through the walls as a light snow and wind whipped at the windows. Shivering Charles started to rub his arms, "E-Erik! I-I came back after classes and you were gone! I looked all around for you."

Reaching over the German clicked on his lamp so that some light shed in the room, he was shirtless despite the cold and had been relaxing in bed but now sat up to face Charles. "I'm flattered, but when you left it was like I got kicked out and I ended up back home. Did you really look around for me?" a slight smirk pulled at the corner of Erik's lips and he cocked an eyebrow up.

"I...yes." the Brit's voice was softer then as a small embarrassed shudder rocked through his chest, "I met you this last morning and not too long ago I met someone else by popping into his car somehow. His name was Hank McCoy and he also said he'd met a girl named Raven. We're all connected, I think...somehow...for some reason."

Stretching his arms up and popping one of his shoulders Erik muttered, "I could care less about that stuff. Don't go getting sentimental like that Emma woman, talking like we're family and friends. We all have either just met, or not met at all so don't go acting like we're something more."

Blue eyes softened as Charles gazed at someone he considered a possible new friend. "That's fair, but...I can't explain why but I know you can feel there's something here too. Something between all of us, for me it feels like it's emanating from here-" he pressed his closed fist against the side of his head. "As if there's a sort of string connecting me to you right...here-" moving the closed fist to press against Erik's chest where his heart was.

Clapping both of his hands over his eyes then Charles started to blush a bright flush that was hidden by the still mostly dark room, "Ah I'm still drunk I'm so sorry, I must be sounding absolutely ridiculous!" When he looked again though Charles saw Erik was touching over his own heart then and looking quite serious.

"Pretty damn ridiculous I'd say. You are sweet when you're drunk, like you've let go of any filters and just speak your true mind." Moving closer Erik invaded the other man's space, pressing his hands on either side of where Charles was kneeling on the bed. "Sorry that I barged in on your shower this morning."

"Sorry that I probably woke you up by falling into your bed." Charles apologized back. "You're very close all of a sudden, are you still trying to flirt with me?"

"Flirting and succeeding I'd say." Erik said back with confidence. Leaning closer he tried to connect his lips ever so lightly with Charles', but was caught by the chest with two soft hands keeping him at bay. The smaller man shook his head and bit his bottom lip hard, "Stop that." Lifting a rough and calloused hand to Charles' freckled cheek Erik brushed his thumb back and forth slowly.

"You're attracted to me, or you would have pushed me away in disgust forever ago. So why are you telling me no?" Still, Erik pushed no further than being close and the simple touch. When he received no answer he let out a small breathy sigh and pulled away, "You are drunk, and I'm tired. Go to sleep if you're going to stay Charles."

Pulling the covers back over himself Erik curled up back into his spot and reached up to click his lamp off and expected Charles to disappear. Instead, he felt the bed dip and shuffling before a warmth under the covers spread. The kind that reached out from another warm body being there with his own even if they weren't extremely close or touching each other.

When each of them woke up the next morning, they were in their respective beds and alone.

Southern Wisconsin, US - Evening - February 5th, 1958

She was sitting back in the place where she had never wanted to be again, especially so recently. Raven sat in a hospital bed, in a hospital gown, at least this time Raven had a friend sitting on the bed with her and squeezing her hands with encouragement. Irene was huddled close to her roommate and moved one of her arms to wrap around Raven's shoulders while the other kept squeezing warm fingers in her own.

"They said they found something on the scan, that could mean anything Rave'. It could be an error, something so minor, hell you could be a superhero." the woman tried to joke to break the tension, but only saw the fear in her dear friend's eyes. "Sorry, I was just trying to make you feel better."

"I know." was all Raven could manage as she pressed closer to her friends comforting warm half embrace.

Not long later a sullen Doctor made his way in holding a clipboard and brain scans on top of it. Coming close the man tried to adjust himself as if ready to give bad news, Raven too tried to mentally prepare herself for what she'd be hearing. The waking up in the hospital hadn't scared her much at first since it had all been allocated to exhaustion and overwork, but after hallucinating like she had Raven had all but rushed to the hospital for tests.

"Just tell me, be blatant about it." she requested.

"As you wish, there is an oddity beginning with your brain. Though I don't believe this has anything to do with your fall in the bathroom it might be best that you did trip so that we took these tests quickly and you didn't write it off. Here-" he put up one of the scans on the board and lit it up, "This is what a normal brain looks like, and you see here your frontal lobes are starting to meld together." He gave a short pause to study both of the girl's faces to get a read on them.

Having tensed more in her friend's grip Raven asked, "So my brain is fucking itself up in a way...is it fixable?"

"It is but...how should I put this.." the doctor rubbed his chin, "The region of the brain is very sensitive and not to be cut lightly. If we separate the brain normally again we could end up semi-lobotomizing you, on the other hand, if we leave it you'll be yourself but your hallucinations will more than likely grow worse. Until the point where you might not be yourself anyways but it will probably cause you pain and eventually death."

Tears started to well up in the blond's eyes, "I-I see...get out, get out of here I need to think about this." When the man didn't leave Irene half glared, "Give her some time to breathe after all of that ok? I'm sure you can understand that." That jostled the man from his little state of unresponse, "Right, my apologies. Take all of the time you need to think Miss Darkholme. This isn't an easy decision but giving yourself a day or several won't harm you anymore." before he left the room.

As the hot tears bubbled over Raven's face and Irene wasted no time pulling her close and rubbing her back and ends of her long hair. "Shhh hey it'll be alright Rave'. We'll figure this out and no matter what you choose I will be there every step of the way with you. Let's just get this all out of our systems and then we can go over the options."

Irene herself was close to tears but trying her darnedest to be strong as needed.

South East England - Late Evening - February 5th, 1958

Last night had been a doozy for the young scholar, so much had happened in a short period of time. Things that Charles had never dreamed of happening to him so they shouldn't be so easy to accept, yet meeting Erik and Hank it felt like he'd known them so much longer than just a few short conversations and eye catches. It was all still hard to believe but Charles was starting to accept that what Emma had told him might all be true.

He had attempted to drown his migraine and any worry he'd held about things with alcohol, only to return to his flat and fall into bed quite literally with Erik. He hadn't meant to, there had been a brief thought of the German but that hadn't meant Charles wanted to literally curl up in bed with him like he had. Not remembering every detail the brunette was pretty sure he'd been flirted with...and almost kissed, but he brushed those thoughts aside as best he could.

The young man had been in the kitchen making himself late night food and trying not to burn it like he did everything besides tea, when he turned around Charles couldn't help but to jump seeing Emma Frost sitting at his kitchen table. "Miss Emma! I thought...you said that you were fading away?" Had she lied?

"I did." she answered in a smooth tone, "People with powers like ours are a bit different in how we work Charles. When we eventually fade away from using too much power we do fade, but often times our consciousness and memories echo through those we spend our last moments with."

"So in other words, Raven, Hank, Erik and I might catch small glimpses of you until you fade away completely." he tried to wrap his head around the concept, if this Emma was a mere echo of her real self then how true could anything she said be?

"That's pretty accurate sugar. I don't have any of my powers anymore but I can still see some of the things going on between you four. Right now I'm just lucky I got to pop in on a few of you, Raven isn't handling all of this well. She got worried and went to the doctor, this sort of thing causes our brains to change in a way that doctors see it as a health issue. Do you see where I'm going with this?" she asked, any trace of a smile had left her face to show just how serious the situation was.

"They think she's very ill and are going to try to fix it...but it won't be fixed?" Charles asked but wasn't quite sure, he knew plenty about the brain but not a lot of the different operations that they could try on it.

"If she allows them to cut into her brain not only will she lose all connection with you three but she'll die soon after. This isn't something you can just cut out, when it develops it acts almost like a new heart, something you can't live without." She didn't say it out loud but the feeling Charles got in the air was that even if it were successful to live without it, one wouldn't want to after getting used to being so connected with their Cluster.

Setting down his fork which he'd been using to move food around on his hot skillet Charles asked, "So I should go talk to her and try to convince her that she isn't sick is what you're saying. I think I understand, but I haven't met her and I have no idea how to contact her like I have been the others. Can you help me do that?"

"You'll get the hang of it soon enough, just try to think of how much you want to help her and meet her. The power should feel that want and take you to her if you try hard enough." Emma answered back, "I need to go warn Hank as well, he might also be helpful in convincing her."

Putting a hand up to stop Emma from leaving he asked one last thing, "Oh what about Erik? Shouldn't we tell him too?"

Her expression became a tad amused, "Not sure he's the comforting type and they haven't met quite yet. But, this is your Cluster Charles, do what you feel is right." then in several blinks, the woman always clad in white was gone from the kitchen. Sniffing the air Charles gasped and turned around, "No my eggs!" they were severely burnt on one side as he grabbed his fork and moved them around. He would still probably end up eating them even with a blackened side.

Southern Wisconsin, US - Early Evening- February 6th, 1958

Raven sat at the small and roundtable inside of her apartment. She had already dealt with Irene fussing over her that morning and insisting she could stay home to help Raven with anything she needed, only to be shoed out the door and off to work. Not only that but Bobby and Kitty had made their first appearance in awhile since they'd heard about her multiple trips to the hospital within a week, after getting the low down there had been many hugs and a few glossy eyes but they too were practically pushed out the front door before they could offer much help.

She just wanted to be alone for a while with her thoughts, crossing her ankles but bouncing one of her feet anxiously as the blond tapped a pen against the fake wooden table. There sat two pages long of details, front and back, on the surgery the doctor was offering to her. It explained what the surgery did, side effects, possible problems in future life and from removing part of the brain.

There was a place to sign and date to get started with the process if she decided to go for it, she would then have to bring it to the hospital to begin the real paperwork but they couldn't do anything until Raven had agreed to read everything they had given to her so that the girl fully understood what she was getting herself into by wanting or not wanting this.

"Hello." came a deep but soothing and oddly British voice, Raven jerked around in her seat and already on edge, ready to fight off someone she didn't know who was inside of her apartment. A man with floppy brown hair was leaning back against the countertops, he was wearing a silly sweater and looked like he'd go down easy in a fist fight.

"Please don't be afraid Raven, my name is Charles Xavier. I recently met Hank McCoy which I believe you have as well? I just want to talk and see if you're doing ok after going to the hospital." Charles tried to give his best set of non-threatening puppy eyes as possible. Ever since talking with Emma in his own kitchen the man had been attempting to relax himself and think of Raven.

Harder than one would think since he knew absolutely nothing of her besides her name, but finally so long later he had been successful. "I promise not to come any closer if that makes you more comfortable. But...can we talk about those papers in front of you, please?"

* * *

Thank everyone for reading. Next chapter powers are going to start manifesting!


	3. Chapter 3

Southern Wisconsin, US - Early Evening- February 6th, 1958

There was a British man in her kitchen, one she'd never met or seen before in her entire young life. Yet there he was, she had eventually invited him to sit across the table from here where she sat completely on edge feeling like her privacy had been fully violated.

Raven had no idea if it were possible but her feelings might have been getting to this probable hallucination, a guilty look came over his eyes. "I'm sorry to have intruded on you...are you perhaps a black belt?" Charles had no idea why he had asked that or how he knew that but he would blame it on their connection that the four of them were still trying to figure out.

"Yes, Jiu-Jitsu and Karate, when I was younger I also wanted to practice Taekwondo but there weren't any places that taught it near me." Reaching forward Raven took a hold of her empty glass of water and fingered it, spinning it slowly within her grasp. She guessed if anything she should be able to relax more, this was just a hallucination and Charles wasn't a real person really in her kitchen, so her shoulders just slightly started to relax from their stiff state.

"Who knew my mind would create some British guy for me to talk to. This must be my way of coping with the bad news." Though for now, her eyes moved down, looking at the pieces of paper she had read probably one hundred times listed with side effects of the life-saving surgery. "But it also probably means that I'm getting sick faster than I'd hoped...I need to sign this."

Before she could take her pen Charles had reached his long arm across the table and taken it from her reach. "Please don't, at least not yet...I hate to dictate anyone's life but Raven my dear, you aren't sick. I'm very real, as is Hank and Erik, though I don't believe you've met Erik yet have you?" The blond girl shook her head and chewed on her bottom lip briefly.

"This can't be real, the doctor found a problem in my brain that is causing hallucinations. That explains everything I've been seeing and feeling from you guys." It was a bad and convenient problem to pop up. Trying to think of his next words carefully, "Why don't you at least give us a chance to prove ourselves real before you sign anything concrete?"

Charles tried to put on a charming smile and it seemed to warm the girl in front of him who half smiled back. "How would you suggest we do that Charles? Aren't you in the UK somewhere?" she just guessed due to his accent and hoped not to make a fool of herself.

"You're right, and Erik is out of the question since he lives in Germany. Hank, on the other hand, lives in America like you do though I neglected to ask where. By the way what state is this?" Pushing himself up from the table Charles stepped over to the nearest window, which was a small one next to the stove and above the countertops.

"It's snowing here as well..." he commented to himself gently. Raven stood then and stepped over next to Charles with hesitant movements to gaze out the smudged window. "Southern Wisconsin, it's not so bad out right now. Can't be less than 15F out, just gotta bundle up." Out of the four of them, Charles noted that Hank seemed to live in the warmest place, wherever he had been didn't have snow but there was the familiar winter chill in the air.

"Hank wanted me to tell you how sorry he is for freaking you out by the way. He seemed quite saddened that he distraught you, on that same note I hope it won't be too creepy of me to ask you for your address I can give to him so that he can visit you and prove all of this?" Lifting a hand Charles moved it slowly so that Raven could see the motion coming, and she allowed him to touch her wrist softly.

The blond girl thought hard for a moment but nodded and gave in, "Fine. But if he is a creep he was really scrawny so I could take him down in seconds." she warned before grabbing a paper from a notebook and the pen from Charles' hand before scribbling down her address that Charles shoved into his pocket. "Thank you my dear, I don't know if I'll be able to visit you again to warn you when but I'd expect him to visit you soon if all goes well."

Berlin, Germany - Early Evening - February 7th, 1958

Three days, that was how it had been since Erik had seen Charles. The other young man had been plaguing his thoughts as an unwanted attachment, he had just been going about his normal days drinking, lazing, eating, and yet with everything he did Charles would invade his thoughts half of the time. Erik had never been one to be picky between genders, even though same-sex relationships were illegal and looked down upon heavily in pretty much every society nowadays.

No one had ever made such an impact on him before, no man, no woman and especially not someone he hadn't even kissed let alone not had sex with yet. What Charles had told him had felt very accurate, how it felt like there was a strong string attaching his heart to the other man and it kept bringing them back together. Made him wonder if his meetings with the other two people who had been dragged into this awkward connection would feel the same as Charles did to him.

His migraine had finally gone away the previous day completely and Erik had been thankful for that at least. On the seventh day, since all of this had started though, Erik woke up around noon feeling normal and well. Hours later that burning, fire feeling had returned, but this time not to his head, pain radiated started in his fingertips and bled its way up his arms, through his chest and burst through his heart.

It had hit suddenly before he had gone out to go do some errands, while pulling on one of his warm boots Erik felt the pain hit him and immediately fell to his hands and knees on the floor gasping and gagging. Clenching a hand in his shirt over his heart he swore heavily in German cusses, "Wha-What the _fuck!?_ I thought this shit was done with!"

Like before the pain only grew worse than the initial feeling, burning tears prickled at his eyes that Erik refused to let escape as he writhed for what felt like hours unable to move even to grab his phone to call for help. He had quickly thought of Charles, if there had been any time for the small, annoyingly calm and bright-eyed man to visit him then now would have been the time.

His apartment remained quiet as the second hour of pain commenced and Erik had resigned to laying on his side on the floor, still clutching his chest and trying to suck in breathes to make it through this. "Ch-Charles.." he practically begged the air, maybe the man couldn't do anything to help him but at the moment Erik wished for the man's comforting presence more than anything else.

The young man didn't get his wish, another hour of retching agony passed before it numbed just a fraction so that Erik could push himself to sit up, glaring at the ground he slammed a hand down into the wood. "Fuck all of this!" he cried, suddenly all of the doorknobs in the apartment cracked down the middle, all of the drawers in the kitchen with metal knobs flew open and just about everything metal went flying in some direction.

To his slight luck, nothing hit Erik when it happened, leaving him shocked and momentarily forgetting about the blazing heat that was dulling but not gone. Pulling and pushing himself up from the ground the German struggled to get into the nearest room, his kitchen and practically flung himself into a chair and let out a long breath he hadn't realized that he had been holding.

"What's the damn point of having this connection if people don't show up when I want them to?" he angrily spoke out to the empty room, looking around and taking in the mess that was now his home with silverware and objects laying everywhere. "Huh.." wincing through a bit more pain Erik lifted a hand and tried to concentrate.

Several forks, and a single spoon lifted off of the ground and floated in midair as Erik guided them, as the pain was cooling inside of his blood it was being replaced by a new feeling. A sort of feeling and understanding that was hard for Erik to describe, but it was almost like he could feel the metal in the room, as if he were a radar picking it all up and able to feel each individual groove on every object.

Flicking one of his fingers in a direction the forks and spoon flew at high speed into the nearby wall, embedding themselves into the drywall and sticking there in a sturdy fashion. Feeling a surge of pure power run through him like adrenaline Erik turned his eyes on a nearby broom closet that had a circular metal doorknob, putting his hand up the man tried to concentrate and squeezed his hand slowly into a fist.

As he had imagined in his mind, the doorknob slowly crushed as if his hand was squeezing mere paper between the fingers with ease. "Huh." he repeated to himself with much more confidence and ideas racing through his brain.

Southern Wisconsin, US - Evening- February 9th, 1958

After her talk with Charles, she had agreed to wait until the tenth of the month for Hank to visit her or she would be signing the papers and going through with the surgery with no looking back. The doctor had told her taking some time to think would be alright but knowing that she might not be well plagued her mind with worry. Evening though she had forced herself to go to work as normal it had been affecting her work very notably, no one had the heart to mention it since most co-workers knew she'd been to the hospital recently for something serious.

Having worked an early morning shift that day Raven was home and had taken a nice and comforting shower before settling in on the couch. Irene was home and would be for a few hours before she would be heading out herself to make some underwaged hourly and tips at a restaurant. There was a knock at the door and Raven froze before calling, "Irene can you get that please?"

The front door opened and there were a few muffled words exchanged between Irene and whoever was there. "Rave' it's someone for you, says his name is Hank or whatever!" The brunette woman was waiting at the door for an answer to see if Raven wanted her to let this man in, she'd never seen or heard of him in her life despite how close she was with her roommate.

Standing up Raven went to the door and saw the young man standing there a bit awkwardly, he looked much the same as she had first seen him during what she'd thought was a hallucination. Short brown hair, glasses, wearing very proper looking clothing like he had just come from work yet Raven suspected that he always dressed that way.

"Irene, you...you can see him right?" Looking confused Irene nodded, "Course I can, are you alright Raven?" The blond roommate was starting to tear up before she lunged and full on hugged Hank around his thin shoulders. "You're real, you're actually real!"

With a face full of a red blush Hank shot his arms out to the side when he'd been hugged, unsure what to do at first and hesitated before touching Raven's back with one warm hand. "N-Nice to meet you too. Sorry about last time." The girl pulled back from the hug but held her hands tightly onto Hank's shoulders, "Don't be, it's in the past and we were both kind of freaking out in our own ways. Irene!" she said with an ecstatic behavior.

"This is the person I hallucinated that day, that means I'm not crazy! Everything I told you I heard in that dream is _real._ I'm like a _superhero!"_ Being utterly confused Irene looked between her roommate and this young man, "No way...that is...amazing!"

Taking his hand Raven tugged Hank inside of her apartment, "Come in Hank, I think we have a lot to talk about with this...thing between us all!" Raven said and gestured between their heads for the psychic connection. "So you've met Charles, but I haven't met Erik yet have you?" Pure relief laced Raven's voice and that alone put both Hank and Irene at much more ease than they had moments ago.

Berlin, Germany - Late - February 9th, 1958

It was practically the next day in Germany with how late it was, the clock in Erik's living room ticked away second by second. Currently, he had been packing up a bag with equipment, he had been out of money for several days and living off of what he could scrape together inside of his apartment but reluctantly given in and taken a new job.

It was a cheap job that would keep him fed and drunk for little more than a month but with all that had been going on with him, Charles, the pains, these new powers he'd been working on controlling the last several days with little luck. He had been constantly breaking things, flinging them across the room and waking up because he had moved things loudly in his sleep.

He had also heard whispers from some of his neighbors of things in their apartments moving around without them knowing how, yet there hadn't been any signs of break-ins. So far he had just been relieved that none of this had caused one of his neighbors to get harmed, it was a shitty apartment and the neighbors were either poor or thugs but that didn't mean Erik wanted to throw kitchen utensils into their faces.

Packing up the last of his tools and a bottle of water Erik closed his bag and paused for a moment hearing a soft whistling took from behind him. "Erik!" an excited and very British accent called out to him with vigor. "Charles." he greeted back without looking up and instead set his bag aside, stood and walked into his bedroom to find where he'd tossed his black fabric jacket with a hood.

"Been wondering when I'd get to see you again, you won't believe what's been going on." the voice and accompanied footsteps followed Erik's back. "I've been talking with the other two, Raven and Hank. Raven got really scared, thought she was hallucinating but she and Hank live close together so he went to visit her! Have you met them yet?"

With a small groan and roll of his steely eyes, Erik muttered, "No, I haven't met anyone but you for some reason. And what good is that if you're not here when I actually want you to be." His harsh and cold tone matched Berlin's weather perfectly was the first thought Charles had before feeling slightly offended.

"I'm sorry, did you need something from me?" Putting a hand on one of his hips bones Charles gave a quirk of his lips, "Did you miss me? I bet you missed me and that's it."

Scoffing loudly so that Charles couldn't miss it he continued by saying, "As if. I don't miss people who aren't around when I actually need them." When Erik said that Charles' whimsical happiness dissipated seeing how serious he was, "I actually did something to upset you." the smaller man realized out loud. "Tell me what it was so I may fix it, my friend."

Ignoring the smaller man behind him Erik scooped up his jacket off of the floor and pulled it on tightly. A warm hand touched his upper arm and Erik responded by grabbing its wrist and twisting it painfully as he turned out, seeing Charles holding back a gasp and handling the pain very well for it catching him off guard. "What did you do? Well maybe something was happening to me and I was confused and alone and instead of you being here when I needed someone to talk me through it, you were off talking to the others and probably drinking your life away!"

The last part about drinking, Erik hadn't even known where that had come from. Sure he had seen Charles drunk once so why did he get the sense that Charles got drunk almost as often as Erik did? A shocked expression held in Charles' blue eyes but he didn't pull away, "...You were scared."

Shoving Charles' hand away then like it burned Erik yelled, "I was not! But it was very confusing and annoying to be on my own!" A hand reached up, the same one that now had red imprints from where Erik had pressed in too hard with his nails, came up and touched Erik's stubbled cheek. "Calm down, tell me what happened. Tell me exactly what happened."

Lowering his voice the taller man scoffed lightly again, "This pain hit me out of nowhere, through my chest and arms and I couldn't get off of the floor for almost four hours. When I did things started to move because of me, but I couldn't really control it all. Just metal things." A frown pulled infinitely at Erik's lips and wasn't relinquishing anytime soon, "Still can't really, things like to move around when I sleep."

Charles' thumb brushed over the short stubble on Erik's chin twice before pulling away but still looking deep into the others' eyes. "I'm getting better at being able to visit when I really concentrate, next time I'll be there when you need me, no matter what it is." He had a sense that Erik and he were very similar in many ways and the one most prominent at the moment was being alone. Charles couldn't remember the last time he'd had anyone there to guide him through something scary and new either.

"Show me." the brunette demanded, but even with a demand, his voice sounded only with kindness in Erik's ears. "What?"

"I said show me! I'd love to see what you can do Erik, perhaps I can help." crossing his arms Charles had that wondrous and confident look back on his face, one that was hard to say no to. Looking around his messy room Erik gestured and headed into the kitchen, equally as messy with utensils and appliances laying around that Erik had gotten sick of cleaning up several times a day only to have it all mess up again when he had one of his jolts of power.

Reaching his hand out the smaller pieces of things like bottle openers, forks, knives and the like started to rattle and a few even floated a few inches in the air but looked like they were dangling with barely a grip on them. Realizing he'd started holding his breath suddenly Erik let it out and suck in new air and all of the pieces clattered to the ground once more.

"When I try I can barely do anything! But when I'm just sitting or jump at stuff or dream things move like they're in a hurricane!" Running both of his calloused hands through his short hair Erik was frustrated to no end. "It's my power, I should be able to use it how I please!" As his anger built up the whole kitchen started to rattle from things being made of metal, most worryingly was the stove.

"Woh woh calm down Erik!" moving in front of his companion Charles tried to block the view of all of the objects that were causing Erik so much defeat. Removing his hands from his hair Erik let out a loud breath again, "Fine, but I don't see how you're going to be able to help me if I can't help myself even a little bit."

Crossing his arms loosely Charles tried to think, and it didn't take too long before an idea sprang into his mind. Snapping his fingers Charles started to grin widely, "I want to try something. Here, sit-" the shorter man pulled one of the wooden chairs out from the kitchen table gesturing for Erik to use it. When Erik refused to with simple disobedience Charles walked behind him and touched his back, guiding him forward and then to sit.

"I do go to Oxford, I'm not as dumb as you'd believe Erik." and under his breath like a child, Charles could swear he heard Erik mutter, "Never said you were stupid."

"Anyways, I want you to close your eyes, Erik." Being refused again a small pout puffed at Charles' cheeks before he reached his left hand forward and covered Erik's eyes until he felt eyelashes tickle his skin and stay closed. "Good. Now I want you to concentrate, don't force it but try to put all of your emotions into moving things how you want."

"I will try." the other man promised and did so, he thought hard and attempted his best as not pushing the feeling and forcing it like Charles had told him. It was hard when he felt things rattle instead of floating and gliding smoothly like he'd wanted everything went crashing to the ground roughly and very loudly. "Different approach maybe, ah keep your eyes closed! Let's try, happy thoughts?"

"You've got to be kidding me Charles-" Erik began to argue and opened a single eye only to be faced with Charles looking like a scolding lover tapping his foot on the kitchen tiles. Closing his eyes again Erik let out one of his famous and childish sighs, "What if I don't have many prominent happy thoughts to use?"

"Just try for me, please?" And try Erik did, he tried thinking about his mother and at first Erik could feel things lifting off of the floor smoothly until his mind turned her image into a bloody one. The one he saw of her in his nightmares and fever dreams, so he switched his thoughts over to his next good memory that he could think of which was having sex with a girl he'd picked up at the bar last month.

The sex had been pretty average but the girl was warm, a cuddler afterward and had talked his ear off about trivial things that took his mind away from his depressing life. Still, the feelings were not enough and Charles seemed able to see this in the way Erik was moving all of the metal. "Maybe you just need a little something more." the Brit suggested.

"I'm trying my best, do you have a better suggestion than _happy thoughts?_ We aren't in fucking Neverland despite all the weird shit happening to us Charles."

Warm lips were against Erik's in a moment and his steely eyes opened to take in the sight of Charles in front of him. The kiss was so soft and too brief for the young mans liking as Charles pulled away, all of the previously rattling and untamed pieces of metal equipment had frozen perfectly in the air without a twitch to them. Erik's mind was focusing on that simple but pure touch and nothing else, so centered in itself and the most controlled he had felt with his powers yet.

Unsure how long it would last Erik lifted his right pointer finger and twirled it in the air, the metal buckle on Charles' belt yanked apart quickly and clattered to the floor, leaving his belt open and a mess. Blue eyes met steel ones and stayed that way for hour-long moments until Charles started to smile even with the blush dusting his freckled cheeks.

"You did it Erik, you have full control right now." The taller man stood up and moved his hand, commanding the mess of a kitchen back into its original state of cleanliness. All of the pieces danced to his hand and moved into their spots, their cupboards, or the garbage if they were broken and left almost no trace behind. Taking one long step forward Erik looped that powerful finger through a single belt loop of Charles' pants. "Come to the bedroom with me, I want you ." with those last small pauses he had given the loop several small pulls of demand.

Dictating the man in front of him as he had the metal just moments ago there was no doubt in Erik's mind that he would be getting everything he wanted tonight. Until his power high was shot down by a mere sweet thing from Oxford, who pushed himself away and said with own command to his tone. "No! I'm very happy to help you figure this out, but that doesn't mean I'm going to sleep with you."

"You kissed me, why are you saying no all of a sudden?" Even with the happy moment passed Erik could still feel his control and metal radar working properly, Charles had shown him in that instant how to focus on one thing intently with want and use that to power his control. "Just because I kissed you doesn't mean I want to sleep with you. It means I felt like kissing you."

"Makes no sense to me." the German moved an arm out to cross over Charles' shoulder and sling around the man's neck, trapping him loosely where they were. "You want to kiss, so let's kiss. I'm sure if we do that enough you'll want to come to bed eventually." He could feel Charles' want for him back almost tenfold yet at almost every flirt and proposition he had been rejected, maybe the young scholar hadn't accepted that he wanted to be bedded by a man yet.

"No one is here to judge us, let's just feel good together tonight." Leaning their foreheads together Erik could feel the ghost of Charles' breath on his lips as he leaned in to try and close the space between their mouths, and then he was alone. Charles had taken his only escape and retreated back to his home in Oxford, or possibly visiting one of the other two for all Erik knew.

It seemed Charles Xavier was much more difficult to tame than metal.

South East England - Very Early Morning - February 10th, 1958

Having just returned from a mental visit with Erik, Charles was pacing his flat and panting, using his hands as makeshift fans as his skin felt warmed by the others mans' touch and close proximity. "I-I almost...and he...he would have-I was going to let him!" The young man panicked to himself that was reminiscent of a teenager worrying over not having studied enough for their finals.

In his want to help Erik with his powers and calm the man mentally, Charles had lost track of why he had actually gone to talk to the man. Hank and Raven had come up with the idea for them all to exchange phone numbers and perhaps after hearing each other's voices they would be able to visit Erik as well and finally meet. Though the long distance call was going to be killer on their phone bills, they had decided it was worth the try.

Charles' feet finally guided him into his bathroom, gazing into the large over mirror his blue eyes looked down. His belt was open and ruined thanks to Erik so he tore it off and tossed it on the ground, noticing now that not only that but Erik had pulled the zipper on his black slacks all of the ways down as well. "Bastard." he grunted but as he unbuttoned his pants to start slipping out so that he could get ready for bed, the brunette paused.

The kiss flashed in front of his eyes, the warmth of Erik's lips on his and the feeling of his rough and short facial hair tickled Charles' cheeks in memory. With a quick flutter of his eyes, Charles started to slip his hand down through the hem of his pants and boxers and taking a hold of himself. It had been awhile since touching himself or being touched by another person so even just his own warm hand brought life to his neglected shaft.

Finishing himself in a few short minutes as he leaned against the bathroom vanity left Charles short on breath and with a sticky hand.

After a very quick shower to refresh himself Charles stepped out of the bathroom in his gray pajamas and heard his phone in the living room jingling with a phone call. Assuming it must have been Raven or Hank since they lived in earlier time zones Charles reached to pick up the phone and answer it politely. "Hello, it's very early here, can I help you with something?"

A gravely and unfamiliar voice spoke through the receiver, "Charles Xavier." a statement and not a question. "My name is Sebastian Shaw, we haven't met formally but I think we need to talk."

Charles couldn't explain why but hearing those words filled him with utter dread.

* * *

I had a few days off when I wrote the initial chapters of this but now I have to go back to work tomorrow. Chapters will be steady but may be slower than the one a day I've been posting so far. But yay some Charles and Erik goodness and Shaw has finally popped into the party.


	4. Chapter 4

South East England - February 10th, 1958

Finding his feet feeling like lead against the floor Charles stuttered, "E-Excuse me? How do you know me sir?" Running the name _Sebastian Shaw_ through his mind Charles tried to remember if he'd ever met a man with that name, from his past, or school, at the bar, nothing was ringing a bell. Yet he had this undeniable sense that he should know who this man was on the other end of the phone.

"I'm like you, I have a Cluster, or I did. If I'm right you've met Emma Frost recently haven't you, and since then you've met your little Cluster-mates?" Had this man been in a type of relationship with Emma the same way that Charles had with his three connected companions he had to wonder. Emma had only given off feelings of wanting to protect and mothership when they'd met, yet talking to Shaw purely over the phone gave Charles almost the opposite type of squeeze in his stomach.

"Indeed I have, she failed to mention you." the suspicion in the young man's voice was prominent more so than he'd wanted to let on. A deep rumbling laugh echoed over the phone, "Smart of her, the less you knew about me and the less time she spent with you makes it much harder for me to find any of you. Is it just the four of you, by the way, quite a small Cluster if I do say so myself."

Clenching his hand around the middle of the phone tighter Charles answered back, "That is none of your business, nothing about us concerns you. I don't even know who you are other than apparently, you knew Emma." Keeping himself under control he had to keep telling himself that getting angry at this stranger would amount to nothing. Obviously, Shaw was fishing for information on something so Charles could do that right back.

"The closest thing I could describe myself to you as would be...hmm, your father? Let's just say if Emma was your mother who gave birth to you, I'm your father because she used my energy and resources in order to create you. No idea _why_ she wanted to keep you four from me, but I'd love to meet my so-called children. What do you say about a face to face meeting Charles?"

"I have no need for a father figure at this age, and I don't trust you. Let's not beat around the bush here, I can tell you want something that isn't just a meeting and I know you don't care about personal relationships here. Just be honest with me what you want Mr. Shaw." Charles was careful with his words, he didn't want to say anything that gave away Hank, Raven or Erik in their lives or their locations.

"Good, you're sharp. Emma and I were from the same Cluster, we worked together for years creating new ones to help them grow and use their powers properly. That is all I wish to do for you and your Cluster Charles, just to help you awaken every bit of power you can. What sort of gift have you received?" the curiosity in Sebastian's tone peaked towards the end of his sentence.

All Charles wanted to do at the moment would have been to hang up the phone and go to bed, but he refrained. "Nothing yet. What sort of power did you get?"

"I can absorb energy of all kinds, isn't that fascinating? Surely the four of you will gain great strengths also, I've seen many kinds over the years ranging from creating fire from nothing all the way to speaking to animals." There was a short pause between the two men before Sebastian continued, "Strangely enough I'm having trouble locating your Cluster-mates. I have many connections to medical sources throughout the world, yours was the first I'd found and a recent possible one named Raven Darkholme who lives over in the States. Though I'd decided to talk to you first since location-wise I am much closer to the UK."

All of that made no sense to Charles, how could Shaw find them through medical records alone? There were millions of people in the world so how had he picked them out and why weren't Hank or Erik on his radar yet Raven and he was? "Oh? And where are you located Mr. Shaw?"

"Please, call me Sebastian. We're practically family even if you don't want to admit it. Right now I'm using my base in London." this time there was a purposeful pause, the man was waiting to see what Charles would say and how to determine how close they actually were. When he got no answer the man continued, "No, I don't have your address I couldn't get that information. My records are old and somehow I doubt you still live with your mother and step-father at your age, probably off at college at nineteen aren't you?"

"So...you have old records of me? That means you've been keeping your eye on me for quite some time right?" Charles asked back and finally leaned his free arm onto his coffee table where his phone sat and started to tap an impatient finger. "Correct. There is a gene carried by all individuals who are capable of becoming part of a Cluster one day, really hard to find unless you're looking for it. So I've got stacks of people from around the world that I keep my eye on, but not everyone has medical records." Genetics, of course, Charles had always been fascinated by that aspect of science and just happened to be what he was majoring in.

"I think I've heard all I need to Mr. Shaw." the young man stated, refusing to call this man by his first name. "Very much I would like it if you would leave me and my companions alone, I'm sure none of us want any complications that I'm positive come with your... _help."_

"As I said, you are sharp. Well then, I'll be in touch Charles." Quickly pressing his fingers onto the buttons to hang up the phone Charles let out a sigh of relief before setting the phone back into its place and pulling the cord to straighten it. "Finally..." Walking into his bedroom Charles curled up under his covers but for the time being, he couldn't get himself to close his eyes.

His thoughts raced, if Shaw had his phone number then he either had been lying or easily could find his address. There was also the possibility that he could find Raven, or potentially Hank or Erik even if it took more digging to find them. Charles was scared, this whole situation had started off worrisome and turned into something exciting between the four of them and made a quick turn to terrifying. Someone he didn't know wanted something from him, something serious.

It took so long for Charles to relax that his eyes eventually adjusted to the dark, he could make outlines of familiar objects in his room and constantly looked around as if Shaw would be standing in his doorway at any minute. His biggest hope, was that Emma would show herself in his dream that night. Eventually, sleep did take Charles slowly and trapped him inside of his exhaustion. Charles was left mostly disappointed, for all he dreamt of that night were two warm arms hugging up to him from behind.

Southern Wisconsin, US - February 10th, 1958

Talking, there had been a lot of talking going on inside of Raven's apartment during the last day, so much so that she had phoned in a favor from a work friend to cover her shift for the day. She and Hank had talked about everything going on with them and more than once the young man had attempted to get into the science of it all, only to realize he had lost Raven's attention and apologize and smile.

His enthusiasm was cute she did admit and listening to him prattle on about psychic powers using parts of the brain that usually didn't activate for normal people was engaging even if she didn't understand most of it, which had been why she had never verbally asked him to stop. She had just let him go on until Hank came back to his senses and they would move on from the point they stopped.

Irene had been sitting in on most conversations, trying to make sense of this herself and being pretty understanding. Raven did suspect she had been sticking around their conversations a lot more because she still had that worry deep down that her best friend was alone with a strange man that had shown up out of nowhere, and both of them were claiming to have a psychic connection.

Though they had many interests that weren't in common Raven couldn't stop herself from feeling completely interested in Hank as a person, it was cliche but it felt like they connected on a personal level. He had always felt like an outsider because of how smart he was, just as Raven had almost always felt like an outsider because she was an orphan. In her neighborhood growing up orphans usually only did two things, get adopted and grow up to make something of themselves, or go into a life of petty crime, she had refused on most occasions.

The only person who had ever respected that decision had been had been Irene, Bobby and Kitty were great too but they hadn't grown up the same way. Both of them had left home for their own and very different reasons.

Hank had insisted he had time to stay for the day and finish their talks, get everything out into the open that they possibly could and that he would leave the girls to their lives that night and get back to his own. He'd spent the night on the couch, insisting that he'd slept in more uncomfortable places before and Irene had snuck over into Raven's bed during the night muttering something about not wanting to sleep alone with a strange man in the apartment. It hadn't been the first time they'd shared a bed.

Raven awoke that morning to having a horrible coughing fit and pushed herself to sit up quickly trying to be in a better position to breathe. "Fuck fuck fuck!" her raw throat gasped out, it felt like it was burning, Raven tore herself out of bed and ran into the connected bathroom to turn on the sink faucet. Taking a large mouthful of water she gargled, spit it out and took another mouthful and swallowed it, hoping to put out the fire inside of her throat.

The smolder dulled in that area but did not disappear, it felt more as if the ignited fire inside of her was moving further down her body and into her chest next. Hunching over the sink the young teen managed to lift her head and look into the small and partially cracked mirror. "IRENE!" Her loud voice screamed in pure horror, Irene made a dash to the bathroom and almost screamed herself as what she saw.

Raven's face had gone pure blue, there were black almost scale-like markings on her face, her hair was still long but turned an orangey red and her eyes...her eyes had gone from their cute brown to a piercing yellow with black iris'. "Oh god, what is happening?" Irene asked unsure what to do but stepped forward and touched Raven's face, turning her face side to side and checking to see if this was a trick.

It all felt real, nothing picked off like makeup or a prop, it all felt completely real. "I don't know what is happening to me Irene, I-I know get Hank! Maybe he'll know what to do, he's smart!" Raven started pulling her long sleeve nightshirt off, leaving her in a tank top as her yellow eyes watched the blue color coiling down her chest, changing her pale skin into a blue matted and rough skin instead.

When the two rushed back into the bathroom Raven was staring into the mirror almost unblinking, just watching the blue as it moved down her lower chest and her arms at the same rate. Stepping forward Hank looked her up and down, "How do you feel?" and immediately Raven snapped back, "I'm scared and it hurts what do you think!?"

"R-Right I'm sorry! Ok so-! So I think the best we can do right now is get you to lay down, try to deal with the pain and let it all pass. There won't be anything we can do until it's done doing...whatever is happening to your body." he insisted.

Feeling similar emotions as to when she had been anxious in the hospital and getting the bad news from her doctor Raven nodded and let Irene guide her shaky body back to her bed. "We'll figure this out Rave'...we will." the brunette girl soothed. Shaking her head Raven pulled her knees to her chest and pressed her back to the wall behind the bed, "This is different than anything before, look at me...I'm, I'm going to try to contact Charles if I can."

Charles was also smart, in different ways than Hank was and he had such a soothing tone and had a way with words that just seemed to put Raven at ease when they spoke. Closing her eyes she tried for a long time, but every time she thought of the man Raven for some reason only saw a brick wall, a few tears bubbled in her glowing yellow eyes and she sniffled, "It's like I'm being blocked out."

Almost five hours later of no response from Charles, Raven had tried more but even Hank had attempted to visit him and neither of them knew if they were being blocked or simply not doing it right. The only one who had gotten visiting down pretty well had been Charles so far, the rest of them still only did it by accident or passed on feelings to each other.

Feeling abandoned Raven had finished crying earlier and all of that energy had focused more into anger as she watched her toes finish becoming blue, whatever had happened was complete. "Hank, you said you'd been working on something while this was happening right?"

The young genius had taken over their kitchen table, and some of their kitchen countertops with papers that he had laid out in a specific pattern and been scribbling things on furiously the whole time. "Yes I think so, I mean it might take some time but I am technically a Doctor and a genius. If I can figure out exactly what's changed inside of you then there is always the possibility to repress whatever changed your appearance. I'm still saying you might change your mind once you get used to all of this."

Raven snapped though, "I don't want to be a blue _freak!_ I'm about fed up with this, looking like a freak, having this connection when half the people won't even answer or show up when I want to see them! You're the only one that has really been here for me so far Hank." Maybe Raven was being dramatic but at the moment it just felt like all of the worst things were happening to her. Hank had started learning that although things like this scared Raven but given some time she would let it all sink in and calm. She just didn't know it at the moment.

Gandering over to her Hank didn't hesitate to touch her new and blue shoulder, "Raven please, look I didn't want to scare you more so I was just trying to ignore it but...I'm going to show you what changed for me during the night." Leaning himself against the nearest wall Hank started to pull off one of his shoes and socks, revealing that his feet had become deformed and monstrously enlarged like quadrupedal creatures. "I haven't tried them but from what they look like, they're good for running and holding onto things...kind of like a...like a monkey." he sighed at the end of his sentence.

He had always worked so hard to be smart, to be the furthest thing from their closest evolutionary species, and yet there he was with practically monkey feet. "Mine is easier to hide but I'm sure your power whatever it may turn out to be, will be better than running away from things."

His words sank in and Raven deflated, "Hank I'm sorry...I didn't know what you were going through while I was whining about myself. You're sweet."

Berlin, Germany - February 13th, 1958

Unbeknownst to the others' issues, Erik had worried only slightly when three days past and he hadn't heard a word from Charles, had he really come on too strong and made the smaller man feel that uncomfortable that he hadn't come to visit. In the meantime to keep himself busy Erik had been practicing his new power and with every day that passed, he felt as if he could extend his reach on metal objects and manipulate them tenfold compared to previous times.

His new power had really come in handy when it came to work, just the previous day Erik had practiced on some of the doors in his house picking the locks with his powers alone. Erik was sure with practice he could do the same to any safe, or even just crack them in half if he became too frustrated with it. Doing his burgling jobs quietly was more important so he would try to keep a lid on his irritation.

Something else Erik really wanted to attempt would be to visit the others through their link, Charles seemed more in control of that aspect than he was but then again so far Charles didn't seem to have gained any strange powers. For now, Erik's worry was with the metal control since that interfered with his everyday life and sleep.

With no one visiting him and just a wish to practice, Erik had been taking lots of small jobs group together. That day was no different, a little after lunchtime he headed out to the other side of the city and parked a few blocks away. Expertly Erik made his way into the apartment building of that day's choice, an average one yet he'd been hired by a repeat client so it was a very safe taking with good pay.

Having done his job and true to his research the doorman took her fifteen-minute smoke break at the time, leaving the front undefended and headed upstairs in his casual clothes. Most jobs he would do during the evening but in a building like the one he was in the security became tighter at night, and with his new magic door unlocking gifts Erik could simply wave his hand and walk into an apartment without looking very suspicious.

Stepping into apartment 5C Erik closed and locked the door behind him with another graceful twiddle of his fingers. He'd been told that the safe would be an expensive one hidden behind a painting in the bedroom, classic and cliche, whoever this guy was who owned the safe had obviously watched too many films. Movies had never been something Erik had indulged in but even he knew that a safe behind a painting was way too obvious and in his line of work that situation had been the first the young man had ever seen that attempted it.

Lifting a foot to stand on the king sized bed in the bedroom Erik pulled off the three small paintings hanging above, the third one albeit small and to him just a bunch of amateur squiggles of a sunflower. Yet such a mundane looking painting was where the wall safe had been hiding, Erik started to rub his hands together to stimulate his fingertips. It was a trick he had learned recently, it brought more feeling to his fingertips and allowed Erik to feel not further, but more accurately like for inside of the safe.

Touching his right hand directly to the safe, gloves on to prevent fingerprints, Erik could feel every metal piece inside of it. Just getting them all to move properly to let him in without issue was what he needed to actually do. There were very little pieces inside of the safe not too dissimilar to the ones inside of the door locks at his apartment, so concentrating Erik moved piece by piece. When he only had one left Erik needed to really focus so he could push the piece just gentle enough not to break the entire metal box.

"Riiiiight...there!" grinning to himself a voice from beside him asked, "Erik, did you break into this apartment?" Flinching from surprise since the room had previously been absolutely quiet, suddenly the entire safe crackled and split open. From the movement, the wall itself cracked upwards in a non-linear line or two. "Nn dammit Charles!" he hissed in a hushed tone, "You aren't around for days and _this_ is when you choose to pop in, when I'm working?"

"Working? I had a feeling you didn't do something entirely respectable but I'd never guessed you were a thief." Charles said and didn't move from his place, Erik hadn't spared him a single glance. "Either way you're interrupting me right now. I have to get out quickly now that I've made suspicious noises..." Yanking open the safe he took the contents and stuffed it into his bag.

Literally hopping off of the bed the thief stepped passed Charles, "Let's go." but when he wasn't followed directly Erik stopped and turned around. Not having noticed since he hadn't given Charles much of a glance, the young man was leaning back against the wall and fiddling with his hands, eyes turned towards the ground. "Hey, Earth to Charles, are you in there?"

When blue eyes finally looked up to meet Eriks, right away the young thief could feel something was wrong. Not even just from the eyes, but deep into his chest. "Something happened, didn't it? And it wasn't just me flirting too hard with you. Look I want to hear everything but let's get back to my apartment first alright?" Getting a quick and jerky nod from the other man they stepped out into the living room.

Charles jumped when there was a loud knock on the door, "Is someone in there? I have a gun!" Sucking in a quick breath Erik stepped into the nearby small kitchen and grabbed the first thing he could think of, a large knife. With a gasp and wide eyes that stared unbelievingly, Charles took a hold of his wrist and forced him to put the knife back into its container. "Haven't you ever snuck out of somewhere before using a window?"

Erik then felt like he wasn't in control of his body, moving to the counter and crawling up to twist the knob on the window and try to pull it open. The wooden window moved up until it stuck about halfway, which would be enough for Erik's slender lower body to get through but not his upper and broad shoulders. "Are you doing this to me?" He received no answer but Erik knew what it would be, and he knew instantly that if he didn't want to be doing what he was then the act would immediately stop. It wasn't forceful, just an urge inside of him that felt like Charles trying to help him get away.

"I'm calling the police right now!" the female voice called from the front door. "I'll give you to the count of three before I barge in there guns blazing, they'll have to scrape your blood off of the walls!" Obviously, the woman had been cut short on her smoke break and was very displeased with it.

"You really haven't snuck out have you, seriously? Not even as a teenager out your bedroom window?" Charles asked and that influence spiked through Erik's veins again, telling him what to do without him realizing. "One!" the woman called. Starting to move the window up and down to get movement and momentum slowly the window moved further up until the stick of it was free and the window shot up fully open. "Two!"

Slipping out feet first Erik grabbed onto the windowsill, briefly forgetting in his rush that he had gone up to the second floor to get to the apartment. "A fall from this height can sprain or break something, try to land on your butt. It might break your tailbone but in my opinion, it's better than-hey!" Charles called after as his companion let go and did as he had been told, trying to land on his ass. Being half successful, Erik landed on a mixture of his ass and his hip as a spike of pain shot up his back and down one of his legs.

When Erik didn't get up, Charles reached to help him answer a single question that he had been wondering, just how _here_ was he, was he physical enough to help move things or help someone stand up that couldn't? "Hurry, hurry!" Charles' beautiful voice urged him on and helped him hobble down the thankfully empty, cold and snow covered street and ducked through an alley before the woman upstairs could break in and peek her head through the open window.

Making it back to Erik's car they sat there panting. "Fuck fuck fuck Charles, what the fuck!? It's fine if you want to disappear for days but then you show up when I'm working of all times!" his voice was harsh and loud but Erik wasn't about to stop. Looking down like he had earlier Charles now held a piece of paper in his hands that he was worrying away the edges with his fingers frantically.

"I've never been almost caught like that before, ever. So just tell me whatever the hell you want so I can get it over with!" It wasn't long before the silence got to Erik and he grabbed Charles' arm with one hand, his other literally ripping the page out of the brunette's hands. Only the very bottom had ripped off where Charles' fingers had attempted to keep hold.

- _He likes you, just ask him on a date._  
\- _If you get scared bring up his powers, see how the practice is going?_  
\- _If you're still scared try asking him more about himself?_  
\- _Damnit Charles just ask him on a date, stop being a coward!_

 _\- Should I bring up Sebas_

Only the last bit was cut off so Erik disregarded it fully. Blinking with his steely eyes the young thief lost his words and anger like it had blown away in the cold wind. "Charles-" but in a blink, the young man was gone, and so was the paper that Erik had been looking at. As a shudder made its way through his shoulders Erik pushed his head into the steering wheel and causing it to beep loudly.

Jumping at his own action Erik turned on the ignition and started driving away, luck was on his side and the fuzz seemed off their game since Erik only briefly heard sirens as he was plenty far away. Locking himself tightly into his safe apartment Erik froze as his thoughts consumed him, he had time to make things right. He wouldn't have to go out until the next morning to turn in the goods he'd stolen to his client, by then he would know if anyone had really seen his face or not.

If there was a number one rule to what Erik did for a living, it would be not to bring fuzz sniffing around a good, reliable and well-paying client. Or you would never get a job again. Sure he could just steal things for himself but Erik was lacking in skills on the actual black market, that was why he just stole and took hard cash for what he stole instead of selling the items for their higher prices and taking that extra risk.

"Ok, ok..." he said to himself, "I have time. Charles can visit me no problem, that means I can too if I just try hard enough. It's just like practicing anything else, I can do it eventually and I have until tomorrow morning. Yeah, yeah..."

Moving into his living room Erik tossed his bag of illegal contraband into a corner, forgotten for the moment. He would make it up to Charles, would apologize for yelling and grabbing him and even for the extreme flirting.

Now that he thought about it, Charles hadn't looked alright in the first place before Erik had started yelling at him...yelling at him for helping him escape that apartment without killing someone...Yeah he felt like a bastard, Charles deserved a grand date and whatever he wanted at this point from Erik. "I'll make it up to him."

South East England - February 13th, 1958

His mind had just returned to his body back in England and all Charles wanted to do was curl up in the shower and let hot water rain down upon him, to wash away everything like a natural disaster. There was no doubt in his mind that Erik hadn't meant to be so angry, and normally that wouldn't have bothered Charles much, or at least he would have handled it nicely.

The visit had been stressful for him, the last few days had been worrying with lack of good sleep. Charles had never been so scared in his life, not even when he had lived with his step-father and stepbrother in the big house in Westchester. Everything felt like it was going wrong, the Shaw fellow was the beginning of that fear. What he had said, or the lack of things he had said meant that Charles and his Cluster were about to get dropped into something beyond what they were prepared for.

All four of them had just been awakened two weeks ago and were barely getting a grip on things as it was, he felt the need to protect them at all costs. So he had cut himself off from visiting anyone for several days as a result, which might have been the wrong decision because Charles had physically and mentally felt a tinge in his body that Raven had been trying to talk to him. Still, he ignored her and Hank when he'd tried to do the same thing, they would understand. Or he hoped.

Only three days in Charles hadn't been able to control himself, living his life like nothing was wrong by going to school, seeing people and doing homework made him want to tear his hair out until he was bald. It seemed impossible and in his weakness to not turn to what felt like easy comfort, his Cluster-mates. When he had opened himself up as he had learned to do when he wanted to visit, Charles felt a mixture of negative emotions towards him and decided against visiting in America.

Finding himself in the middle of a break-in and robbery wasn't his intention either, but that was where visiting Erik in Berlin had gotten him. Ruining the man's day had been the last straw, seeing disappointment clear in his companions' eyes at the end before Charles had ducked out like a coward had felt like a sting that didn't just go away so easily.

"They just need some time...and maybe for me to explain things. They'll understand I'm sure once I do that, I just need to get ahold of myself." The time was early afternoon so when the doorbell rang Charles thought nothing of it, he lived in a wonderful flat building and was very friendly with one of his neighbors. They often traded different bottles of moderately priced wine as a sort of game.

"Coming!" he called and tried to cheer his voice up before opening the door. "Oh, can I help you?" the young scholar smiled at the stranger at the door. The tall man smiled back handsomely and in a deep and gravely, sickeningly familiar voice said, "Yes, yes I think you can help me Mr. Xavier. My name is Sebastian Shaw."

* * *

A/N: I rewrote this chapter twice because I felt like I was making Raven too whiny and a bitch. I'm hoping she doesn't come off that way and instead is coming off just overwhelmed for the time being. Then as I was rewriting it the third time FF Net fucked up and I lost about 3k of words of the ending.


	5. Chapter 5

South East England - February 13th, 1958

Everything between answering the front door to the point where Charles was sitting at his kitchen table directly next to Sebastian Shaw was a pure blur for the young man. Sitting there momentarily obediently Charles' body was stiff, he leaned onto the table and had his fingers crossed together and squeezing causing his knuckles to turn a lighter color.

The man next to him had been mostly quiet but smiled all the while, Charles could faintly smell whatever cologne he wore and was impressed by the very expensive suit Shaw seemed to be wearing. He was a tall and intimidating looking man, at least from Charles' perspective since Shaw was a good deal taller and definitely older. He had to be at least into his thirties while young Charles was just barely still a teenager.

"You're a lot less chatty and snarky now that we're meeting in person." the older man commented and placed a strong hand on Charles' shoulder and gave it a small squeeze. "I've got to admit you are not what I was expecting after I read my file on you. There was no current picture but a smart kid, going to Oxford and living off of his parent's money I'd assumed that you would look like a spoiled rich kid."

"And I don't?" the teen snapped back immediately. "Well, yes. But I'd expected more of a...sort of 'jock' who spends all of his time fucking girls and working out while he pays others to do his homework. You're much more adorable than I'd guessed." There was far too much pleasure in the man's voice for Charles' comfort.

"Again, and I don't?" That comment of his made Shaw burst out in laughter, "Now Charles, I may not be a telepath like my dear Emma was but I can tell you definitely don't work out a lot. Fucking girls, maybe you do, maybe you don't. Not that I don't enjoy our little flirting here but why don't we get down to business. You're going to be coming with me."

The grip on Charles' shoulder became tighter, just on the edge of painful as large fingertips started to dig through his shirt into his soft skin. "I'll come with you, as long as you promise not to look for the others. I'll cooperate." the young man promised. Shaw laughed again, this time more condescending, "You're acting like you have a choice in anything that goes on here."

Pushing himself to stand up Shaw started to pace directly behind Charles, back and forth just a few steps each way. "You're so young and naive. That makes your Cluster easy targets for me to find, mostly at least. Like I mentioned on the phone, it was either between me coming to see you or Miss Raven over in America. I've got a good feeling about what can come from you and I meeting Charles."

The man stopped his movements and gripped Charles' upper arm tightly and half yanked him up to his feet to face Shaw himself. "You haven't gained any powers yet it seems...but I get an odd feeling you've got the best handle on visiting your Cluster-mates at this early stage. I see so much of Emma in you, she was very similar and she gave off the same sort of feeling I get when I look at you."

Charles desperately wanted to speak, to say something. In such a situation he had no idea what to say, if he tried anything then Shaw would just be violent back and unfortunately, Charles was not like Erik was. He was not tall and strong, neither physically or mentally. In fact most of the times Charles found himself broken and useless, the only thing he seemed to excel at was school.

Summoning up what courage he could Charles muttered, "If I get a power it will probably be something useless like making people sneeze on command."

"Even if that were the case, you're extremely valuable to me as the little heart of your entire Cluster. Now, we have a plane to catch so we must be off." Still holding onto Charles' arm he started pulling the man over towards the door to leave. The younger man was resistant and fought the grip lightly, "Get off! I'm sure someone is going to notice me missing, and what if I tell someone that you're kidnapping me?" he threatened.

Furrowing his eyebrows Shaw grabbed Charles so he was holding both of his arms and slammed the younger man's back into the nearest wall. "I don't give a shit who notices you missing. Humans are no match for us, and you won't tell anyone that you're coming against your will because as I'm sure you've guessed, I _can_ and _will_ find the others connected to you and I can kill them. It might take time but you can be damned sure I will do it."

Having winced at being shoved into the wall of his own home Charles swallowed and nodded, he felt like a coward giving in. Then again, he thought, when in his life had he not been a coward? All his life living with his stepfather, stepbrother, and mother, then fleeing their house and going off to Oxford to escape. Not to mention his many relationships, friendships included, where he had held people at arm's length to prevent any more emotional damage to himself.

Sebastian did allow him to gather a small bag of personal items, though he had gone through the entire thing to make sure Charles left anything dangerous or with the possibility of helping him contact other people for help. "Good boy." he had said before taking Charles out and across the street where a car was waiting specifically for them.

Sitting in complete silent Shaw looked like he was off on a spa day, nothing was bothering him yet he still had a hand loosely wrapped around Charles' arm to keep a leash on him. Blinking a few times the younger man rubbed his eyes once before he noticed someone in the passenger seat up by the driver, the person also looked briefly confused before turning around. It was Erik and quickly Charles tried to keep his facial expressions under control, he didn't want Shaw to know someone was seeing this.

Blue eyes met steel ones but then Charles looked away and tried to look like he was staring at the seat in front of him. Erik looked confused, "What is...going on here?" then he noticed the man sitting directly next to Charles and a list of emotions washed over Erik's features. "What in the hell are you doing in a car with Sebastian Shaw?"

Charles' eyes lit up a little bit, so Erik knew this man already? Desperately his curiosity for the other man made him want to ask how and why the other looked so angry yet frightened at the same time. Forcing himself not to speak though, Erik's frown became tighter. "You're not ok, are you? That's why you're not looking at me or speaking to me, you don't want him to know I'm here?"

Before Erik could open his mouth again Shaw spoke first, "You look distressed Charles, never been on a plane before?" he asked and with his hand still cradling Charles' arm, the man pulled the younger closer in the car. Neither of them had put on seat belts when they'd gotten into the car in the first place. Erik practically growled like an animal seeing that action, "Nazi supporting bastard..."

Shaw must have noticed Charles' eyes being trained on a singular spot for so long because a smile started to spread over his lips, "Is someone here with you Charles? Don't look so worried, the driver knows all about this stuff. In fact, he's in my own cluster, aren't you Janos?" the driver gave a curt nod but didn't speak a single word and focused on the road, seemingly having faith in Shaw as the boss.

"Is it Miss Raven?" reading Charles face and what expression he could pick off of it the man sighed out. "I wish you'd be more open with me Charles, there should be trust in relationships.

Erik had moved to sit next to Charles, the opposite side that Shaw was on and he was staring at both of the other men. "On the bottom of your note, his name was written there last time I saw you...that's why you were so..." _scared, sad, worried._ Erik didn't have the guts to voice those words out loud. "You came to me because you wanted to talk, and you also wanted some help." _To feel safe._ Again he didn't word his thoughts.

"I'm going to get you out of this mess." he promised in a softer tone. Erik moved to survey their location, where the car was heading and how much room there was. "You know how you guided my mind last time we were together? I'm going to do the same thing for you."

Charles could feel it, like his mind clouded over and his body started to move slightly on its own. "Wait, Erik-!" but as he cried that out Charles pulled his fist back and directed a sharp punch right to Shaw's nose. Catching him off guard as blood started pouring down his face, "Fuck! You little shit!" the man had not been expecting anything like that out of such a weak-seeming teen and Shaw had definitely underestimated the new Cluster thinking they hadn't learned to help each other at all yet.

Turning Charles had been pulling at the door of the car to open it, then realized he needed to unlock it and pulled the knob up. Just as he was about to open the door and jump out, not caring if he hit the rough cemented street, Charles felt a taser stick into his back and electricity run through his body. It lasted long enough, and strong enough, that finally Charles couldn't take it anymore and his eyes went black as he heard someone call his name.

Location Unknown - February 14th, 1958

When he finally came to, Charles kept his eyes closed for awhile until he felt more awake. Even then he had to peel his eyelids open forcefully, they felt heavy as a lead brick. Glancing around he almost forgot what had happened to him, the room looked like a hospital only without any windows. He was hooked up to a heart-rate monitor but no IV, and his arms and legs were strapped down to the medical bed he was laying on.

Giving his limbs a quick few tugs to see how sturdy the straps were Charles grunted quietly, "Fuck...fuck!" under his breath. Closing his eyes again Charles tried to feel anything through the four-way bond he and the others had, if he could feel anyone's emotions or if he could perhaps project himself to them to ask for help. With no luck, he assumed that his grogginess wasn't just from passing out, but probably from being mildly drugged.

It wasn't long before Shaw entered the room through the double doors on the right side of the room, he was carrying some odd and metal looking helmet under one arm. Spotting the helmet Charles gave it a look of confusion but didn't mention it, "You...why exactly am I here?...From what Emma told me I thought you wanted to recruit Clusters not kill them."

"Smart mouth as soon as you wake up, I hadn't even gotten to wish you a good morning Charles. Very rude." the man countered back. "You are correct though, but some sacrifices need to be made for the greater good. If you don't cooperate you might be that sacrifice so that I can find your Cluster, and if your power is what I'm expecting out of you then...well let's just say we'll be having a lot of fun together."

Turning his head away from the older man Charles refused to look at him, mostly to hide the little bits of moisture gathering in the corners of his blue eyes. Stepping forward Shaw took a hold of his chin and forced Charles to look at him though, this time with a large frown on his face. "I've tried being nice but that isn't working with you, so I'll move on to what I know works."

The man gave a whistle and a man, who Charles recognized as the driver from before, rolled in something that Charles didn't recognize. Little pads were stuck to his temples and then the man held a small plastic piece to Charles' mouth and gestured for him to open up. He put up a little fight but the piece was forced into his mouth, a bite guard to prevent him from biting his tongue?

As Shaw leaned over him he said, "One last chance to cooperate nicely Charles. Tell me where the rest of your Cluster is, join me, and we won't have to do this." Yanking at the restraints as if Charles wished he could jump out of the bed and strangle the older man, he muttered something nasty behind the mouth guard and glared. Giving Shaw all the answer he needed, the older man sighed and waved his hand. "Janos, set it low for the first round. He may come around when he actually experiences pain."

For the second time within twenty-four hours Charles felt a huge amount of electricity start to pass through his body, but this time his captors were going to make sure he stayed awake during the entire experience. He screamed as loud as he could behind the bite piece.

Southern Wisconsin, US - February 14th, 1958

Hanging up the phone softly Raven let out a soft sigh. Irene gave her a look, "No good news from Hank then? Guessing he's not having luck deciphering your DNA for whatever normalizing thingy he was talking about?" The blue girl shook her head and looked disappointed, "I know he's trying really hard though, I told him he needs to sleep more. Sounded like he'd been up since he left here to go work in his lab."

Since changing into her new blue form Raven had taken a small absence from work, using her hospital brain scan as a reason, all the while still hoping her genius friend would have a breakthrough for both of their conditions and set them back to normal. A small blush coated her cheeks suddenly, which was much harder to tell in her new skin but Raven's cheeks turned a slightly darker hue of blue than the rest of her. "He also wished me a Happy Valentines Day."

Giggling at that Irene shook her head, "Look at you, got a crush on a cute nerdy boy." she'd come to a conclusion that she did like Hank, she had been debating it for awhile. After seeing him handle the situation with Raven in pain and changing, being terrified, he had tried to be so soft and comforting that Irene would never forget that.

The two Cluster-mates had also gotten pretty decent at visiting each other and had attempted to go see Charles as well, only to feel that same way as if there were a block of some sort. It had once felt like a brick wall Charles himself had put up and then just turned to pitch blackness, like a void or a huge gap that they couldn't leap across.

Hank had given his promise to try and fix their bodies, and in return, Raven had promised she would try to figure out what was going on with the other Cluster members, Charles and maybe to finally meet Erik.

"Have you gotten any better at controlling it?" the normal roommate asked and Raven nodded back. She tensed her body and a ripple went over her skin until she looked like she had before, rosy pink cheeks, brown eyes, and blond hair. "I'm still not able to control myself for long, I think the longest I've been able to concentrate so far is two hours."

"Well keep practicing, but don't keep that up for my sake at least. You know I don't mind however you look girl." the women exchanged familiar smiles and glances, but then Raven held a hand over her chest tightly. "O-Oh shit! Fuck...fuck I _hate_ this bond sometimes!" Falling over onto the floor Raven's entire body started to shake, immediately she turned back to blue without her proper concentration to keep the illusion going.

"It h-hurts...f-feels like I'm being t-tased or hit by fucking lightning!" she cried out, in an instant, Irene was there and helping her sit on the couch. "Ok let's just get through it like we have with everything else, it'll pass!" and it did, lasting not very long but it had been extremely painful. Looking across the room Raven spotted Hank who had mentally come to visit her. "Hank, did you feel that?"

Irene glanced to the side where Raven's eyes were looking, she saw and heard nothing of course but she had also started to get used to this whole visiting thing. Even though once in awhile Raven would just call Hank up to feel more normal than using her mind.

"I did." the young man said, "So right away I came to check on you. Something is wrong, it's either Erik or Charles and with how things have been...I think it's a safe bet this is why Charles has been unreachable for so long."

Agreeing with a nod each Raven held a hand over her fast beating heart. "We need to focus on meeting Erik, maybe he has a better idea of what is going on so we can help." The normalizing serum would have to wait, both Cluster-mates felt a sense of dread for Charles, worry that something awful was happening to him that they were just now getting the hint at.

Berlin, Germany - February 14th, 1958

The last twenty-four hours for Erik had been the shittiest of his life. First, he had fucked up his job and proceeded to take it out on poor Charles who already had enough on his plate. Then, he had finally figured out the stupid visiting trick only to find Charles in the clutches of Sebastian Shaw, a man Erik despised like no other. Also, he had been so worried and full of distraught when he had been shoved out of Charles' little bubble and back to Berlin that he had spent hours upon hours trying to force himself back in, with no luck.

Erik had been so angry that he had accidentally called all of his silverware to go flying and were now sticking into the wall of his kitchen, even the spoons were embedded in the drywall.

Which lead to the last thing Erik had expected for his day. He'd missed the drop off time for the goods he had stolen. Which ended with two large and intimidating men showing up at his door, forcing their way in thinking Erik had kept the mixture of different drugs to himself to sell. Getting into a fight Erik had won and ended up convincing them he had just had a late night drinking and slept too late and sent them off with their bag of drugs but with his pay cut in half for the inconvenience.

Oh, and he had to stitch up his own arm where a knife had cut through deeply. The rest of him was fine, small cuts and bruises that Erik could deal with easily. With all of his bad luck he figured, there couldn't possibly be more than that, right? Until he felt a stinging and rattling sensation run through his whole body, like the time he had stuck his fingers in an open outlet as a child and gotten shocked. Only much more intense.

It passed but Erik knew right away that it was Shaw hurting Charles, there would be no other explanation. He had personally first met the disgusting man in the concentration camps when he was young. The young thief only had a brief memory of that time, partially from his young age and also just wanting to block it out for his sanity.

What he could remember was that Shaw had been researching something in genes and Erik had matched the criteria, which made him valuable and the lab rat to a lot of Shaw's little earlier day tests on a young, possible future Cluster-mate. At the time he hadn't known what the man was talking about, he had no knowledge of what a Cluster was or could be so he just chalked it up to Shaw being a lunatic and Nazi. He still thought those things of the man.

Now he realized the only thing that had kept him out of the man's clutches for so long, would have to be because most of his files had gone up in flames when the camps had been taken down and some pieces burned. He had been safe, but somehow he had found Charles in his place.

After the electric painfully subsided it left Erik kneeling on the floor of his bedroom, and then he wasn't alone. Two people stood before him, one looked nerdy and scrawny, the other...a blue woman? Somehow it didn't surprise him as much as Erik thought it should. "Er, Raven and...Hank?" The two glanced at each other and then to Erik in same time. "Erik, right?" the girl asked.

"Yes, it's good to finally meet you both. Guessing you're here because you also felt that?" It seemed he had a lot of explaining to do for these two who had been mostly out of the loop of what had been going on with Charles. The explanation didn't take long, a lot of things he said seemed to resonate with the other two with complete understanding, he had to wonder if that was the magic of the Cluster that worked through them.

"So in short, Shaw is a monster and he's got Charles. He probably wants all of us but can't get to us by normal means." Hank seemed calm and together but all three of their hearts were beating fast out of worry and anxiety in the same rhythm. "What's the plan then? We have no idea where Shaw is keeping him."

Raven was pacing back and forth a few steps each, "Charles was living in England, and Erik said that he saw the car was headed for an airport. What resources do we have? I can barely afford a plane ticket at all but I could manage one if we knew where to go. I'm also just a waitress so I don't have anything fancy to get me information." she admitted and started tapping her foot.

Shaking his head Hank said, "I could try to use the FBI systems and see if I find anything on him current or old to give us clues. It might take a few hours though so that I don't get caught and work around all of the systems. What about you Erik?"

Erik was the opposite of Raven, he had been standing like a perfect statue with dark thoughts emanating from his head. "My skills lean more towards breaking into places, hand to hand combat, stealing stuff...that sort of thing. When I was younger I wanted to track Shaw down and kill him, so I have some old listings of his hideouts. If you can figure out where he was last spotted then maybe we can pinpoint what building he's using currently."

"What about me?" Raven barked in, wanting to help. With a blink of his cold steely eyes Erik frowned deeper if that was even possible. "You mentioned before that you're a really good fighter right? I say we keep you in reserves, Hank will find us a location, I'll break in and if things get messy we'll combine my strength with your pure skill and beat the shit out of anyone who tries to stop us from saving Charles."

She hated the idea of sitting and waiting around, but she made a gesture of hitting her fist into her open hand. "I'll be ready then." All of her nerves were on edge, she was going to need to break out her old punching bag while she waited. They needed to hurry, all three of them could feel the spurring of another wave of electrical pain starting to come their way.

Location Unknown - February 14th, 1958

It wasn't until the third time being shocked and having his bite piece pulled out of his mouth, his lips politely wiped with a wet cloth when Charles' mind was finally swimming the way Shaw wanted it. He brushed his hand through Charles' messy brown locks of hair, "Tell me, where is the location of this _Erik_ I heard you call for in the car?"

Trying to fight it, it felt as if Charles mind was on autoplay and he couldn't stop the words from coming out of his mouth. "E-Erik...Erik lives in Germany. Berlin...Germany." his voice was cracked and raw from screaming behind the bite piece in so much pain. "What's his last name?" it was answered with a small "Lehnsherr." which Shaw almost couldn't hear, but managed to.

"Good boy, you can rest now." Shaw planted an almost sweet kiss on top of Charles' sweating forehead. "That isn't far, Janos." the man snapped his fingers, the other man was at the ready immediately. "Yeah, boss?"

"Send Azazel to find and pick up our friend in Germany, tell him to be careful. I met that kid back in the camps, feisty one and I'm sure his temper has only gotten worse with anger and age." Shaw warned and sent the other man off to work. "I'm sure you haven't felt it with how much pain you were in, but your powers have started to show."

"H-Huh?" Charles blue eyes slid closed but he wasn't sleeping, just resting now that he was being given the chance. Now that it was mentioned he did admit to himself that he was feeling different, his mind was still cloudy so it was hard to tell. Something definitely felt off, but right at the same time. Like his mind could reach out but was being blocked by the same drugs and electricity that were messing with his link between the others.

"I recognized the signs and I can feel it in the air, your mind trying to reach out for others but only able to just barely touch the ones near you because of the nice drugs in your system. You're a telepath like my dear, beloved Emma. It looks like in her last betrayal she inadvertently left me a beautiful gift, a replacement for her. A much more powerful one I'd even go as far to guess." his voice sounded far too happy for Charles' liking, which meant bad things for him.

"So..." the younger man had to clear his voice since it was dry and continued, "So, I'm going to be used as your radar for everyone you want to find?"

"Not only that, this means you can _create...birth_ other Clusters. It's a beautiful process that involves melding two minds, it's a bit like sex. Extremely intimate, can be pleasurable and well, it doesn't always become a Cluster in the end. So you can keep trying and trying until one finally starts to form, just like trying for a baby." Now Charles was understanding more why Shaw had briefly joked about being a father-like person towards his Cluster. That was how they were born, Shaw and Emma had done such a thing.

"Let me get this straight." Charles paused to cough briefly and clear his sore throat again. "You're going to keep me tied to this bed, use me as a radar, _rape_ my mind and force me to create Cluster's with you...you're sick. You're so fucking sick." He tried to portray just how disgusted he was in what little voice he could manage.

"Oh, heavens no not just that!" Shaw said faking being appalled. "You didn't think of all of the things I could do to your physical body. You're no woman but mind melding is always ten times better, and more likely to take, during actual sex. At least from my perspective. Emma fought me on that fact for a long time, insisting sex had nothing to do with it." It seemed Shaw had made up his mind on the fact though and that made Charles snap his eyes open.

The sudden light hurt his eyes but the young man forced himself to stare at Shaw in disbelief. "You wouldn't."

"I'll do anything, to get the results I want. Don't forget that Charles."

* * *

A/N: So I briefly looked up the history of electroshock therapy for the time periods. I guess it was around but it didn't become more normalized until the 70's?


	6. Chapter 6

Warning for Attempted Non-Con later in this chapter.

* * *

Location Unknown - February 16th, 1958

Two days he had been laying on his back vertically with limited movement on the bed he was strapped to. Just the previous day Charles had started to manifest his power, late at night his captors had heard him start to scream and thrash as the pain enveloped him as it had his other Cluster-mates only days before. As if to test it Shaw had sent a young lady into the room, almost immediately as she had stepped in her mind was invaded without Charles meaning to.

The power felt all-consuming during the pain and Charles' mind both lashed out and tried to cling to any other mind it could for comfort, hers being the first it could find with the walls of the room seemingly blocking out everything else in the world. As the young brunette lady collapsed to her knees and held her head she heard only screaming, Charles, on the other hand, felt his mind rifling through her memories like a teacher fingering through a student's many paged paper.

Charles wasn't sure how much time had passed but he could remember the girl in pain, blood started to pour out of her nose like a faucet, soon it started coming out of her ears and not long after it filled her eyes with bloody tears. She collapsed on the floor and still laid there even currently, the pain had subsided long ago but Charles still leaked occasional tears...he had killed someone.

A person he did not know in life but knew through her memories, she hadn't deserved to die at the hands of his own mind. Her name had been Elizabeth, only twenty-five years old, young and confused when a handsome and powerful man like Shaw had approached her asking for her expertise in being a nurse. Her intent had been to help him when she had stepped into his room, and in return, Charles had killed her.

By then her blood had pooled and started to dry on the concrete floor of Charles' room, he hadn't slept a wink and probably looked a right mess. Slightly greasy and messy hair, tears streaked and dried from his eyes and all over his face, his eyes bloodshot, red and puffy, pale, and surely it felt like he had bitten his bottom lip bloody in several places.

With no way of telling time in his room the young man wasn't sure when, but Shaw stepped into the room at some point. Stepping directly into the bloody mess on the floor whose name had once been Elizabeth. Having been passive for a while Charles started to pull at his restraints and thrust his mind at Shaw's with intent to harm him. "You bastard, let me out of here!" he cried out.

His mind attempted to touch the older man's, only to find it blocked by a metal helmet made of similar material to what surrounded his room. Shaw grimaced and stepped over the collapsed body and over to Charles' bed, "She's a pathetic human, not worth our time. Now, calm down. I'm sure you'd like to eat something instead of being pumped full of IV fluid, and wouldn't you like the catheter taken out?"

The calm and almost sweetness to the man's voice was chilling, it only meant bad things for the newly formed telepath. Laying still Charles nodded, "I want to sit up."

"Wonderful, let's get you more comfortable and perhaps you'll be in the mood to talk. I have good news, I've found the location to your dearest Erik and guess what? He is on a plane and currently on his way here. Funny enough I'm actually familiar with the boy, hard to imagine I know but I did work for the Nazi's in their concentration camps for a time." Rubbing his thumb down Charles' pale cheek a laugh bubbled in the man's throat, "You'll behave if you don't want us to shoot him in the head on sight when he arrives."

A partial relief washed over the telepath's body, Erik cared and he was on his way to come help. With no other choice, he would be passive, at least until there was a proper opening.

Erik's Flight - February 16th, 1958

With combined efforts on his and Hank's part, they had narrowed possible locations for Sebastian Shaw to a few places. The one in France Erik could remember being one of the man's most frequent, he had a feeling that would be the place to check, his chest squeezed tightly in concern that he might have chosen wrong. His other companions he could feel on the edge of his mind always now since their visiting had become constant over the past days, Erik didn't mind it nearly as much as he had expected to.

Sitting on a flight was obnoxious to the young man, he was constantly bouncing his knee to the point where it had annoyed the person sitting next to him so much they had moved to another open seating. More peace for him to think about all of the ways he would kill Shaw for hurting Charles, so he didn't mind the space.

Catching a glimpse of white next to him Erik perked up, expecting it to be Raven since he'd noticed some blond hair. "He-oh...you?" he said quietly, "I thought you died." Erik meant nothing rude by it, Emma had the good conscious to warn all of them with what she could and for that alone he was grateful. The older woman smiled a bit smugly at him just as she had in their first meeting.

"This is just my echo, I have no control over it but I believe what is left of me inside of you called me out in want of comfort." she said, Erik immediately made a scrunched face at the word _comfort_ as if he'd been disrespected. Giggling Emma gave a small wave of her hand, "It's just between the two of us sugar, don't be embarrassed."

Forcing his shoulders to relax back Erik leaned back in his chair and crossed his legs the best he could in the small space in the plane. "Alright then, talk."

Her lips turned down into a slight frown, "What a warm welcome to someone who birthed your Cluster, I suppose you aren't the heart. You're more of a...muscle." Rolling his steely colored eyes the young man turned his head away to glance out the window he sat next to, clouds moving by not fast enough by his standards. "What does that even mean Miss Frost?"

"Long time ago, after seeing quite a few other Clusters be born and grow together a few of my own Cluster and myself started to notice patterns in the births. Everyone within the Clusters are born on the same day, same hour, same minute, you get the picture. Not only that, everyone within the groups brings something to the table. You're devious, muscular, don't mind getting your hands dirty."

Well, he definitely couldn't argue with that, it certainly summed up what he was good at. "Fair point I suppose. If I had to describe Raven she would be...finesse and grace I guess. She's not extremely strong but she has enough finesse to use her own fighting styles against others, she mentioned that she can also cry on cue sooo...I'm guessing she's a decently talented actress in situations." All of those things were quite handy, the lovely lady in America had caught Erik's eye and he was already very fond of her feisty nature.

"See, now you're getting where I'm coming from." Emma agreed, "Dear Hank, such a sweet thing. His powers have given him great speed but his connections at his work along with his pure genius intellect is unmatched by most. He's the one who helped you find Sebastian's location isn't he?" Erik nodded, he had to give credit where credit was due.

Hacking and working things like that may seem like such a side job but Erik knew if it weren't for Hank he would never have found the right safe house to confront Shaw. He couldn't say that he felt the same connection for Hank as he did for Raven and Charles, but Erik knew if push came to shove he would take a beating for him or even shoot someone if necessary, maybe more but time would tell.

"What would that make Charles?" touching his chin Erik had to really think about it, "He's smart, unbelievably but in a different way than Hank. He's smarter when it comes to practical things and biology in specifics. That all seems way too particular to be what's special about him."

"Charles...my poor thing, he's been blessed and cursed with a similar role that I had. I knew it as soon as I met him the first time, he was going to emerge as a telepath like myself and have great powers. Despite what Sebastian insists, a telepath's most important job is not controlling people, gathering information on enemies and being _pregnant."_ her voice spiked slightly at the end of her sentence, a sensitive subject.

Turning to look back at the woman in white Erik found himself newly interested, he hadn't known Charles was going to be a telepath nor did he know what was so special and drawing about the young man, he had to know. "Go on." he urged.

Brushing some hair back from her face Emma continued, "He's what I would describe as the heart of the Cluster. He is especially special, Charles would have been even without telepathy as he has a natural way of connecting with others he just meets. As I'm sure you've noticed. Being a telepath makes this easier but Charles is already quite empathetic towards others." His face started to become warm thinking about the other man, Charles did naturally give off quite a warm presence.

With a more warning tone, Emma's voice seemed to be fading along with her body. "Before I go, remember that even if something does happen to Charles-" "It won't." Erik grunted out quickly. " _If_ something happens to him, the Cluster can survive but it will be hard on all of you. And _when_ you manage to save him, because I know you will, please take good care of him Erik. Better care than Sebastian took of me, I trusted him with my gift and my heart...he did not treat either kindly."

Sighing as he was left alone before he could ask or comment more, Erik leaned his head back onto his seat and stared at the ceiling for a moment. A telepath, that was worrisome due to circumstances but also amazing in Erik's eyes. A beautiful awakening if he could say so, he wished silently that he could have been around to soothe Charles' pains when he'd been going through them.

It was early morning when Erik's plane arrived on the ground and he left, going to a local hotel and setting his suitcases on the bed. As agreed upon at an earlier time, 6 am rolled around and then both Raven and Hank were standing inside of his hotel room each looking antsy in their own ways. Raven tapping her foot on the floor, Hank had jittery hands as if he'd been drinking constant coffee.

"Ok, go over the plan one more time." the blond girl requested, "I just want to make sure we're all 100% on what our jobs are."

"I will be getting us in without being noticed using the tips Hank gave me on their security systems, despite the facility being labeled as shut down I'm sure all of it works perfectly." Erik started off with.

"We can't afford for Charles to be taken to a hospital and them thinking he's sick like what happened to Raven, or for them to phone for back up. So I'll be monitoring all incoming and outgoing electronic messages and phone calls to block them as needed." Hank nodded in agreement.

"And I...wait." Raven huffed and crossed her arms. "If you get into trouble we combine your manly strength with my fighting skills and take out anyone who stands in our way...and potentially kill Shaw for daring to touch Charles."

Giving a sly smirk and a short nod he said, "Yes, exactly. I don't plan on it but if things go south...both of you hit the eject button and get out of my head, both of you go into hiding or get somewhere safe where Shaw can't find you. I'm fine risking myself but I won't risk either of you or Charles if possible." All of them knew that was quite a sentimental thing for Erik of all people to say.

Even knowing each other for such a short time the others were impressed. Raven grabbed Hank's arm and then Erik's, "This is all going to be ok, we have each other's backs so we can do this. I'm scared to death but I have faith in you Hank, and you Erik. And...I have faith that Charles can take care of himself until we get in there to kick ass."

"Can't believe I only met you guys this month still and yet I feel..." Hank started and Raven finished for him saying, "Like we've known each other for years." "Feels like I've known you guys _maybe_ a few months." Erik said stubbornly but he wasn't fooling the others, he had been the most worried over Charles and it had only a small amount to do with his big crush on the other teen.

Renting a car with a fake ID and accounts Erik drove for several hours to where he knew Shaw's very discreet hideout was, he had dreamt of coming here to murder the man quite often when he'd been younger. Now he had come for a different reason but may have gotten his chance to kill the Nazi sympathizer all the same. Parking far away he walked the rest of the distance to the building, wearing a black spy-like suit and carried only what he thought he would need.

Such things included several knives strapped to his legs, a single pistol at his hip and equipment he would be ditching soon in a bag in order to break through the security fence and ID doors. The fence, piece of cake, but the back door as it wasn't guarded had great coding written into the ID pad so it was difficult to hack. With Hank at his side, he was able to make it inside, closing the door behind him.

~.~.~.~.~

"That helmet looks ridiculous." Charles said in a slightly bitter tone, "You must be quite frightened of what my power can do if you won't take it off." he was being dragged down a long hallway by Shaw's hand that was on his arm and holding tightly. Wearing nothing but an ugly eggshell colored hospital gown that fell just passed his knees and was slightly open in the back.

At the moment, Charles couldn't find the energy in himself to worry if anyone saw his ass. Everything that had happened since his kidnapping had felt like a mixture of nightmare and dream that passed by so quickly laying strapped to the bed, but now that he was up and walking around all of his senses seemed to be returning.

His new power still felt blocked, parts of the building were made of heavy metals like Shaw's helmet and the room he had been held inside of. Areas where his newly powered mind could not penetrate, there was a large lower floor that he could sense on the other hand with quite a few minds there. Charles' mind seemed to be working this power on its own as he walked, feeling firstly the awake minds which consisted of two women and one young man that were nurses much like Elizabeth who had been taking care of Charles.

The telepath could also feel other minds that were deeply asleep and drugged, he felt them nonetheless, but could not tell who they were or anything about them. He only could tell that there were four of them. Logging the information to memory Charles relayed none of this to the man briskly walking him down the hall, finally stopping at a room and all but shoving Charles inside.

Lights flickered on when they sensed motion, the room was set up much like a bedroom. A twin sized and very basic bed in the corner, a table with chairs that had two plates of food on it already, and a bookshelf. "I hope you like this, it will be your new room once you decide to cooperate. Sit and eat, you look like you're ready to pass out." Shaw ordered.

Taking a seat Charles sat on the edge of his chair and took the glass of water first, downing almost all of it to wet his dry throat. The IV had kept him hydrated but it wasn't as satisfying as drinking a nice cold glass of water. "Ah..." he let out a relieved sigh. Similarly, his stomach growled softly at the sight of food, a plateful of vegetables that Charles picked up and slowly nibbled at without a word.

"There's a good boy." Sebastian stepped behind him and patted his hair gently, the hand trailing down to the small tie on the hospital gown halfway down Charles back. It was the only thing keeping the clothing even semi-closed and the telepath somewhat decent. The tie was pulled open and Charles could feel the fabric over him shift without being held, slipping down his shoulders just barely before his hands reacted and caught it, pulling the gown further over himself again.

"Tsk tsk, so shy." the man noted, spotting a blush starting to curl its way down Charles' neck. "I'm afraid the only clothes I can lend you are my own." Shaw almost snorted when he saw fierce blue eyes glare at him from a very slight glance that Charles gazed back at him. "Better than a hospital gown isn't it?"

"I'd prefer the gown than wearing anything that has been on your body." finally finding some of his spunk and voice as his mind had cleared and body felt more of himself, Charles took another bite of a carrot and crunched it loudly on purpose. Shaw stepped over to the bed where he had left freshly folded clothes, brought them over and set them in front of Charles next to his plate of food.

"You _will_ wear these, or you'll be walking around naked instead. And trust me, I have no problems with that." Standing up briskly Charles continued to glare, now more directly at the older man but reached and snatched the pair of sweatpants from the pile. "Fine, if you're going to get pleasure out of this either way I might as well keep myself modest."

Slipping on the pants under his gown before shedding the eggshell-colored fabric all together Charles had to re-tie the drawstring so that the sweatpants wouldn't fall off of his hips. Then proceeded to pull on the white shirt which was one or two sizes too big for Charles, "Happy?" he held his arms out in gesture. Nodding the evidence was obvious on Shaw's face that he was happy, "Very. You may finish your food now."

Sitting in mostly silence Charles ate hungrily, keeping an eye on the other man who was eating slowly. Shaw also seemed to keep his own watchful eye on his prisoner, partially for his own pleasure and partially to keep any escape attempts under wraps. As he ate Charles paused briefly, he hadn't gotten used to his power at all but it acted like a radar so far.

It was as if suddenly a blip on the radar went off, one that felt very familiar. Quickly catching himself Charles kept eating, acting as if nothing felt different. Trying to guide his mind to connect with this other person's it almost brought tears to his eyes, it was Erik. Live and in the flesh, Erik, who had come to rescue him.

Inside of his third eye spectrum, Charles could see Erik stop and pause in the middle of a large room he had been walking through to continue his trek through the building. _Charles?_ the man's familiar voice resonated in his head, unsure how to answer of if answering would alert Shaw made Charles keep silent.

That didn't stop him from being able to send a mental picture of an elevator, he and Shaw had briefly passed one on the way to the room they currently sat that had been labeled _B3._ All he could hope would be that Erik understood and wait it out. "So...how does this birthing stuff all work again? You explained it but I'm not quite sure I understand."

Seemingly thrilled that Charles was asking questions instead of voicing harsh insults pleased the older man. "Telepaths are amazing creatures, they are the only ones capable of creating other Clusters. As far as my research went this is what I can say is most likely, but unconfirmed since I'm still unable to measure the precise brainwaves I need to."

Clearing his throat as if to give a speech the man continued, "Telepaths are capable of absorbing mental energy, even if they don't know it is happening but if you were an expert like my Emma you could do it at will and speed up the process. Creating Clusters takes a lot of mental energy to be collected so the most sure-fire way is to be connected to another very powerful person. Such as myself."

Drinking the last mouthful of water in his glass Charles set it down and tapped his chin, "Because of the mental links, people in Clusters create much more mental energy than normal humans. So it wouldn't be impossible to collect energy from humans for a long time and birth a Cluster?" he asked.

"I would think that is possible, but disgusting. Clusters should only be born from our own kind, who knows how it could affect them by... _mixing."_ Charles had to notably scoff at the disgust in the man's voice, he sounded like a racist old grandpa who had just discovered their grandchild would be marrying someone of a different race.

Tapping a finger absentmindedly against the glass he was still holding instead of his chin the young telepath asked, "So the birth, is it like an actual pregnancy or...?" Charles hated asking questions such as this but Shaw might have been the only person he could potentially ask about himself since apparently telepath's were not born very often.

"From my experience, Emma could sense at a certain point that she would give birth to a Cluster. From that point, it usually took around two months for it to actually happen. The actual birth is quite similar to pregnancy, it took hours sometimes and she was in pain. Quite a lot of pain." Shaw answered without any hint of guilt in his tone.

Feeling in his mind that Erik was getting closer, not taking the elevator but having found stairs to keep himself more discreet left a jitter of excitement in Charles' heart and in his veins. He would get out of here, and he was going to get to meet Erik in person for the first time along with it. A laugh echoed throughout the room as Shaw held his stomach, suddenly bursting out laughing like the madman he was.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" Charles asked in a callous voice.

"Oh, nothing haha! I was just thinking of my dear Emma. Conception always seemed more accurate during sex, she always insisted it was because that was when both of us let all of our shields down and our true love for each other could create something beautiful for us. How ridiculous!" Leaning back in his chair Sebastian crossed his legs, "I agree with part of that, but not because of true love. Just because when her shields were down she could collect so much more mental energy."

Gripping his glass tighter as anger started firing up inside of Charles veins he asked in a stiff tone, "How do you know it wasn't because of how much she loved you?" He could sense from what he knew about the blond woman and what he had the chance to speak to her of, she had truly loved Shaw. The young telepath would not think that was a smart or wise thing to do, but the heart often wanted what it wanted despite what your brain could tell you.

"Cute, you telepaths are all so sentimental. I can't believe-" the man went off on a tangent and it was at that point Charles started to ignore his voice altogether. He could feel Erik's presence getting so close, on the same floor as he was and getting closer with every moment. Glancing around the room Charles mentally cursed, the room was very bare of anything he could use to defend himself.

Books were no good, nor the bed or table or chairs as they would all take too long to do anything with. Standing up slowly to convey a non-threatening motion, Charles took his plate and Shaw's almost-empty one that hadn't been touched for awhile to pile them together. "Just cleaning up, I hate clutter." As he stepped behind Shaw he felt an unwanted hand give his ass a playful slap.

Turning on instinct Charles smashed the ceramic plates over the back of Shaw's head. Flinching at the blow, it hadn't done nearly enough surprise as the young man had wanted. Seconds passed before his blue eyes before strong hands grabbed him and were shoving him down onto the small circular table he had been sitting at moments ago.

"Nn!" he grunted with the sharp pain when his head slammed back against said table. Struggling as fiercely as he could Charles found his movements limited. "Let go of me you bastard!"

With a now stoic face that was only barely hiding the fact that he was livid, Shaw held Charles against the table with both hands containing the smaller man's wrists and his lower body pinning Charles' legs. "I thought you might be good for me, but now I see we're going to have to do this the hard way. The first time is always the hardest to handle, you'll learn to like it!"

Moving Charles wrists to be held by one hand, Shaw's unwanted touch pulled at the baggy sweatpants and yanked them down to Charles' ankles along with undoing the zipper of his own trousers. Tears started to prickle at blue eyes and he started to struggle harder from the adrenaline rushing through his veins. "Stop stop _stop! Get off!"_

Panick ripped through Charles' mind as he saw Shaw pull off his ugly metal helmet. "You don't know how to control anything yet which is perfect, I can mold your mind to accept me. I may not be a telepath, but I know how they work probably better than anyone."

It was true, on instinct and being naive Charles' mind latched onto the closest thing it could for support, that being Shaw's mind. Gasping loudly Charles turned his head to the side with wide eyes and tried to force the memories, thoughts, feelings out of his head to no avail. _Lust. Want. Control. Dominate._ Were the main feelings repeating throughout Shaw's mind as the man pressed his body hard into Charles', even pressing his forehead to the side of Charles' own. "Don't worry, you're going to like it."

 _Stop him with your power, you're strong enough!_ Emma's urgent voice echoed like static in his mind.

 _I can't. I can't! I can't concentrate or think!_

With one last powerful yank to his wrists, the young man managed to free a single arm from Shaw's grasp, feeling down the table for anything to save himself. His hand found purchase on his empty water glass and smashed it over Shaw's head, like the plates it didn't do much but make the man flinch. Being left with the base of the glass that had jagged shards still connected to it, so he repeated the motion.

This time with the sharp glass Charles slammed it as hard and deep into the older man's cheek, blood splattered and Shaw let out an almost animalistic cry of pain, lifting himself off of the younger man to pull the glass out and throw it to the ground. Cradling his bleeding cheek, the cut wasn't nearly as bad as it could have been due to his own power that Charles had no idea about, but it still hurt like hell and would probably leave a scar and possibly need stitches.

In a flash of a moment, Charles stood up and pulled his pants with him before bolting from the room and down the hall. A figure downwards stifled a smile on his face as he ran closer, "Erik, over here!" The figure had been moving slowly and checking empty rooms since he had no idea which Charles would be inside of.

His head turned at attention hearing his name before both men moved quickly towards each other like magnetics pulling at their opposite connecting forces. Practically throwing himself into his friend's arms when he got close enough, Charles didn't cry but his body was shaking. "We have to hide o-or something, I stunned him but Shaw he's...he's-!" trying to turn and point down the hall to the room he'd left the door open Erik simply responded by holding Charles tighter in his one-armed hug.

The arm that wasn't holding onto Charles was gripping a gun at his side, ready to shoot. "No hiding. I'm going to put a bullet through his head and that will be that."

Charles had always been able to pick up certain feelings from his Cluster-mates but for the first time in a very clear voice, he heard Erik's personal thoughts. _I have to kill him, or Charles will never be able to sleep peacefully at night._

Almost on cue Shaw came stumbling out of the room, the glass removed from his cheek but blood dripping down his face. The glass had hit further up his cheek than Charles had imagined, tearing part of Shaw's lower eye and eyelid and leaving deep and cruel drag marks on the left side of his face. "You think you can just run away with him, do you, Charles?"

He came closer and Erik lifted his arm to point the gun threateningly at Shaw, waiting for a distance to close between them for better aim. Erik had shot people before but it had been quite a long time since handling a gun and he wasn't going to risk missing or non-fatal shots with his limited ammo.

"Others are coming." Charles whispered softly, the henchmen must have been in one of the rooms that were blocking his senses because it was out of nowhere they had appeared. Three of them but only two were headed in their direction, they weren't far so it wasn't too much of a stretch to think they had heard Shaw's screams of pain from the connecting hallways.

A single gunshot sounded in the hallway, it had been aimed perfectly at Shaw's forehead but seemed to disappear with no impact. Leaving the man simply laughing, "I absorb energy, glass isn't lethal but it can harm me. Gunshots? Much easier to absorb."

* * *

Thank you to everyone who favorites and subscribes to the story. Reviews/comments are very much welcome and I appreciate all of it.

This story is probably something I will re-write when I'm finished to make it all more coherent, I tend to write chapters by the chapter and not as a whole series. Which is why I don't often write multi-chapter things.

I'm planning about two more chapters of this, but I'm also planning on eventually writing a sequel or possibly two connected to this one and still focusing on Charles and Erik+Cluster but some years skipped ahead.


	7. Chapter 7

Charles watched helplessly as Erik pulled away from him, taking his hands and placing the gun between them. Holding his hands together softly the man said, "I'm going to take care of this, if any of his cronies try to come at you...shoot them. I know you don't want to hurt anyone but we don't have a choice here, protect yourself." it was a pure demand and Charles didn't have the energy to oppose it, so he only nodded.

Turning his back to his companion Erik rolled his shoulders and cracked his knuckles, "Alright Raven, I think this is what you've been waiting for." So began the fight, Charles watched in awe as Erik, with the help of Raven, tried to fight hand-to-hand combat with Shaw. The man had the power of taking in and pushing out energy so they had to be careful, doing more dodging than actual fighting.

With shaky hands, Charles looked down at the gun he held as he felt the two minds coming closer to them. Oh how he wished he had more control over this new power of his, it was easy to sense but not so easy to latch on and manipulate others like he knew he should be able to do. He had poorly assumed that his power would have come to him in a similar fashion to the others, suddenly and with pain but also coming on strongly. Not weakly as it were.

His body still felt weak, surprised himself that he could still stand after all of the electricity that had gone through his body so recently along with the almost-sexual assault just moments before. With will alone Charles forced his grip on the metal object to steady and stop shaking, he tried to harden his eyes not wanting Erik to see him for the first time in such a pathetic state.

Thinking of Erik, his mind Charles could feel even more so than their bond with his new gift and it felt wonderful. Not even pushing his mind into the other man's it was just a comforting sense of being near and physically close, similar to how the bond was a comforting feeling of being connected at all times even when apart.

He would watch and see when Raven started teaming up with Erik as they fought Shaw. Whereas the duo-team had more skill and physical power, Shaw kept either taking hits or blocking them but kept a smuggish look on his face, as if he were about to win. The helmet stayed steady on his head, Charles knew that to be the source of blocking his mental gift as he could literally feel his mind try to wrap around it only to slip off like it were feet on a wet slanted pavement.

 _WhatdoIdoWhatdoIdo_ he panicked and it seemed he had projected, Erik's steely eyes glanced back at him briefly only to have Shaw raise his hand and say, "Valiant effort, but not good enough." Touching Erik's stomach a small blast of energy came from the hand, everyone could hear the literal ribs crack inside of Erik's body.

"Erik!" Charles cried out and took a few steps forward until the other man, who had started to crumple to his knees but gritted his teeth to prevent crying out, held up a hand to silently say for Charles to keep put. It felt delayed but Charles felt a pain in his ribs as well, though not to the extent Erik had gotten it, and started to hunch over gripping his stomach with a gag of pain. _G-Get his helmet off, I can help!_ He tried to push that thought into Erik's mind. Their eyes met again until Erik's head whipped around only to be fully grabbed by one of Shaw's hands. The older man gripped Erik's face hard and his lips then started to pull down into a twitching frown, "I remember you from the camps. You've grown."

Taking another step forward so that he would only be a few feet away Charles gripped the gun so tightly his knuckles had begun to turn white. "Don't touch him! Shaw, get your fucking hands off of him right now!" he demanded with all that he could muster.

"Why, because you love him? Love within a Cluster is so...vile. I should know, I cared so deeply for our dearly departed Emma but I suspect what you two have started feeling is much more than I ever could." moving his hand to grip Erik's chin the younger man didn't fight it, pain in his ribs were a big distraction and made it difficult to want to move.

Honestly, Charles didn't know what the feeling between he and Erik had become. It had started out just as it had with the others, only more flirty, but the more they had visited with each other and talked, the more Charles saw of Erik and felt when they were near...his heart had begun to beat faster at the mere thought of the other man. It was wrong to love another man, he had been told that since an early age when his mother had overheard him telling a friend he thought a boy was cute and promptly been slapped for it.

When they had met and Erik openly flirted with him it had sparked that age-old feeling, something he had felt seldom but a few times throughout his life only to usually suppress it with thoughts of that punishing slap and the words that had followed. Erik wasn't afraid of his sexuality and that had been appealing, made Charles want to accept that part of himself as well and perhaps give it a try. Until all of the recent events had occurred. Shaw seemed to have no qualms about having sex with another man as well, but Charles had a feeling the bastard would happily fuck anyone to create the Clusters he so desperately seemed to want.

"Look I'll...I'll come with you. No arguing, no fighting...I'll come with you and do what you want of me. Just leave Erik and the others alone." He could feel the irritation lingering off of Erik just hearing that, and though he couldn't see them he could practically hear Raven and Hank starting to argue with him as well from the other side of the world.

 _Erik...his helmet is made of metal, can you get that off of his head?_ still getting the hang of it the projection was a bit fuzzy like an out of range radio but the message made it through and he even heard the response. _I've been trying, it's a weird metal and I can't get a grip on it...dammit! Charles, I'm going to do something stupid so just...stand back!_

 _Be careful! There are two others about to round the corner behind him._ Charles warned.

Just as promised two people, a man and woman, rounded the corner. Charles recognized one as Janos, the driver but didn't recognize the other. She had wings resembling a pixie yet when touching her mind he felt the name Angel more appropriate. Pressing two fingers to his temples Charles tried to concentrate and held out a hand to them and yelled, "Stop!" sure enough both of them froze in place.

"Well done Charles, Emma hadn't learned how to do that for months after we were birthed!" Shaw praised, that was until he heard the cracks in the ceiling above and saw Erik take his chance to scramble away from him on the floor in a crab-walk. The ceiling began collapsing over the man, too fast for him to move or let out a burst of energy from his body to save himself.

He was promptly crushed, his helmet falling off in the fall and rolling over towards Erik's lap. With a cry of pain the man disappeared under all of the fallen rubble, only a single hand sticking out from underneath and twitching on occasion. The man would probably live due to his gift but that didn't mean he hadn't been hurt badly for the time being.

Scrambling over, Charles dropped the gun and put his hands on Erik's shoulders, "Are you ok!?" he panicked with wide and watery blue eyes. With a quick nod and being helped up by supportive hands, Erik grabbed the gun and helmet, "We need to get out of here quick before they get through that or find a way around, come on!" He shoved the gun into his pants and took Charles' wrist in his hand before tugging him along to the elevator, thankfully still intact since the building damage hadn't come that far.

As the doors closed and the ride up became quiet, only broken by a small voice, "Your control over metal has become quite a lot better since I last saw you...only collapsing the part of the building you wanted. That's impressive."

With an exasperated voice, Erik still held his ribs tightly, "Charles, _please._ Is this really the time to go on about your obsession with these powers?" Seeing some hurt cross the others face softened Erik's normally cold expression. "Sorry. I'm...I'm relieved is all right now. That you're ok." He didn't go on about the panic they had all felt when they had felt Charles' pain and fear emanating from this building from thousands of miles away yet feeling it so clearly.

"We were all worried sick about you." Looking quite pleased a realization hit Charles, "Wait, we have to go down!" Launching himself at the buttons he hit the very bottom floor number. "What are you doing, we have to get out of here idiot!" his companion scolded.

"No, there are other people trapped here Erik! People like us, we have to get them out of here or Shaw will just keep torturing them until they do what he wants!" Putting his foot down Erik could see there would be no getting around this. "Fine, but if trouble rears its head we run. I'll throw you over my shoulder and carry you even with broken ribs if I must."

As per design, the elevator had gone to the top before allowing itself to go to the bottom. When they finally reached their destination they were rushed by three people, two women and a man in scrubs who promptly hit a higher level of the elevator and took it back up without Erik or Charles. "Well...I guess they weren't being paid that well to stick around.." Charles muttered but started guiding them slowly down the hall until they reached a room that seemed to be quarantined like a hospital.

With Erik's gift the room was easy enough to break into without a key, entering they heard a normal noise of heart rate monitors softly beeping, several of them. Four to be exact, four beds and four patients lying seemingly comatose in their beds and hospital gowns. As they approached Charles took one of the clipboards hanging off the end of a bed and read out loud, "James 'Logan' Howlett. Cluster Date: November 6th, 1890. Gifts: Bone Claws, Rapid Healing, Long Longevity." which seemed true enough since the burly man who slept, apparently almost eighty years old, appeared maybe thirty at the most. "Remaining Cluster: Unknown."

Silently he read through the other's paper.

Sean Cassidy  
Cluster Date: May 19th, 1955  
Gifts: Sonic Wave Vocal Chords  
Remaining Cluster: Apprehended

Alex Summers  
Cluster Date: May 19th, 1955  
Gifts: Cosmic Energy Blasts  
Remaining Cluster: Apprehended

Armando Muñoz  
Cluster Date: May 19th, 1955  
Gifts: Adaption  
Remaining Cluster: Apprehended

All three younger men appeared to be in their older teens, probably right around where Erik and Charles were or a bit younger. "These boys are all from the same Cluster..." he muttered mostly to himself but seemed to be bouncing his thoughts off of Erik's listening ears. "That girl with the wings, Angel I think her name was...she was part of their Cluster. She betrayed them."

"How could you possibly know that Charles?" came an unbelieving tone from the other side of the room as Erik tried to figure out just how to get these four men into the elevator with his broken ribs and limited room.

"I can feel it in their minds, they're all dreaming about the last thing they remember. Which is her betraying their Cluster to join Shaw in his escapades and letting them get captured for it when they refused to also join." the older of the two was quiet then with no response, he seemed to have a mixture of pity and sympathy for the young ones.

"And this poor man, I can't even describe what's going on in his mind...love, closeness, and then...torture, being chased, blood, violence..d-death-" it was then that his companion snapped, "Stop looking into his mind then! You've been hurt enough, you don't need to feel another person's pain right now." It came out harsh but Charles took it, feeling only the care and worry emanating off of his friend's person.

"It's going to be awkward but if you can move those three onto this beasts bed, I can lift it by the metal and get them into the elevator." Erik suggested, it seemed like the best plan at the time. Maneuvering all of the beds up flights of stairs while they were both injured was not a good idea, and there would be room for at least one gurney in the elevator with them.

With difficulty Charles did just that, lifting the teens into the bed and making a mountain of the unconscious bodies after removing their IV's carefully and unhooking them from all of the machines. The elevator ride felt cramped but neither of the men complained but were happy to rush out as soon as the doors opened to the top floor. Making quick work they went outside to find Erik already pulling his rented car down the street to meet them. "Wow that's...that's amazing Erik." Charles couldn't help but to compliment.

Loading the three younger into the back seats and the older man carefully into the hatch-back trunk area Charles rushed into the passenger side, slammed the door and locked the door as he stared out at the building he'd been kidnapped to. His body finally regaining the stiffness from earlier, his mind catching up with all that had happened in the last hour of his life.

They began to move quickly down the street and towards the nearest city when Charles felt a warm hand reaching to touch over his, and squeeze it in a very sweet gesture even when Erik's eyes never left the road. Turning to face his friend a sad and shaky smile came over his lips, "Th-Thank you...for coming to save me. I'll have to make sure to thank Raven and Hank immensely as well. I really hoped you would come for me but I didn't know for sure since they were dealing with things and the last time I saw you we had a fight and-" with his shoulders beginning to shake Charles silenced himself and wiped his arm over his eyes to remove the small bits of moisture.

"Don't be sorry. There was no doubt we were coming to rescue you. Especially after I found out it was Sebastian Shaw that had you..he...he ran part of the concentration camps in Germany for a while when I was little. He-!" Turning his hand to hold Erik's more properly Charles squeezed back softly. Warm hand in warm hand he shook his head, "You don't have to tell me right now."

"Right, right...we have all the time in the world now to talk don't we?" Erik's tone became lighter at the thought. "I'll take you back to my hotel room to rest, and when you're ready I'll take you home."

"No." came the immediate response. "I want us to go to America to see Hank and Raven, in person. Please?"

"...Of course. As you know I don't have a 9-5 job so it's no problem, though I'm a bit low on funds right now." he muttered and chewed the inside of his cheek unconsciously. "I can pay. My mother gives me quite the monthly allowance and I rarely spend much of it, I just need to contact my school and tell them...well something, since I've been missing for days now."

Getting all of the bodies into the hotel was much the same as getting them out of the bunker, Charles used his ability on the front desk workers so that they couldn't see the bodies floating up the stairs in a gurney. After getting the three young men settled in a single bed, leaving the Logan character in the gurney to rest, Charles moved close to Erik and lifted the ends of his shirt. "Your ribs, should we go to the hospital for them?"

"We should both probably go to the hospital to get checked out tomorrow, but I feel ok right now despite the pain. I don't think Shaw wanted to kill me, just cause me as much pain as possible." with a nod of agreement Charles didn't move away. "Can we share the bed? I don't want to be alone right now."

Blinking several times Erik couldn't say no to such a request, "I think I need to apologize, for the last time we spoke. I lashed out at you when I shouldn't have. Sometimes my temper gets the better of me, I was planning to come tell you that before all of this. That's why I showed up when I did back in that car when Shaw..." unable to finish his sentence with a grimace growing on his face Erik scoffed. "When that bastard hurt you."

"Apology accepted. I'm happy, I don't think I could stand it if Raven or Hank hated me...especially you though." the slightest bit of color flooded Charles' cheeks, he pulled off the shirt he had been forced to wear but left the sweatpants on and moved to take one side of the bed. He watched Erik not move to do the same for the moment. "I could never hate you, you're way too...um, chipper? Charismatic? Whatever!"

Only taking the side of the bed after Charles patted it gesturing for it to be taken, they laid there next to each other a bit awkwardly as Erik pulled the covers up and over them. "Charles, you're speaking English right now aren't you? I'm speaking German."

"Wha-seriously!?" an interested spark entered the man's eyes, "So the translation works in person as well as mentally! That's amazing, whatever this Cluster stuff is, is seriously amazing.

Watching his companion with content Erik nodded, not a smile but a relaxed look nonetheless. "Lights on, or off?"

"Mn...off, I had to sleep with lights on in my room when they had me strapped down." Charles requested and reached to click off the lamp. "You won't get scared or have nightmares, will you?" Erik's voice was full of concern.

"I don't think so, if I do then at least you're here." taking the initiative the younger man scooted over in bed so that their shoulders were lightly touching, "Good night Erik."

"Goodnight, Charles. Sweet dreams."

~.~.~.~.~

Erik startled awake the next morning to the gurney being thrown into the wall and a few cries of fear, shooting up in bed he asked, "What the HELL is going on!?"

The man, Logan, had awoken and yet had little recognition behind his eyes. Dull like a doll, his bone-claws extended from his knuckles and having slashed through a few menial objects. The three younger boys were awake as well but cowering on their bed together, Charles on the other hand stood in front of Logan with his hands up.

"Hey it's ok, you're safe now!" he tried and stepped back when the claws made a swipe at him.

"Charles get away from him he's fucking insane!" Erik demanded and stood up, reaching to grab his gun and aim it at the animalistic man.

"No wait! It's not his fault, he's like me...he's been tortured but for a much longer time. I just need...here-" he held out a hand towards Logan's head, "Let me help, please? I won't hurt you and if I do then you can kill me."

Sputtering out with wide eyes Erik snapped, "You idiot don't try anything, he _will_ kill you!" He only refrained from shooting since Charles was so close to the man, worried that if he did then Logan would lash out and hurt Charles instead of Erik for wounding him.

The beast pressed the tips of his claws to Charles' chest, but didn't move them further as if threatening the smaller man. "It's ok." came the soothing voice and Charles touched his hand to the side of the older man's face. Closing his eyes it took only a moment or two but the claws began to retract, and then so did Charles' hand. "Better?"

"Better.." came a deep and gruff voice, Logan moved to sit back on one of the chairs in the room. "My head, how did you do that?"

"Your mind was all jumbled like a puzzle, I just put most of the pieces back where they belonged." smiling with triumph Charles put his hands on his hips and turned to grin at Erik for approval. Lowering his gun Erik only gave a nod and then looked at the teens, "I don't want any of you three trying that shit or I will shoot."

"Don't worry about them Erik, I've already spoken to them. This is Sean, Alex and Armand-er sorry, Dwarin you prefer right? And of course this is Logan, everybody this is my friend Erik I mentioned." they all nodded, Dwarin the first to speak up. "Thanks guys for getting us out of there. I think we'd really like to go home now, right guys?"

"Yeah." the other two answered in chorus, still stiff and recovering from the psychological damage they'd been endured.

"That won't be a problem, I can get you all plane tickets and passports, whatever you need to get home." Charles offered immediately. "Maybe we could exchange numbers or addresses though, I'd really like to stay in contact with you all." the younger boys seemed more than happy to comply, each of them writing their information down, Sean even gave Charles a happy and thankful pat on the shoulder.

"You're a life saver man." Alex spoke up then as he held the card with Charles' information on it. "We'll make sure to keep in touch, we all live pretty near each other so we can travel in a group to get home. I've got a little brother to go see."

"And you, Mr. Howlett, where can I send you to call home?" Charles' happiness wavered when he heard the man respond, "I don't have one. Nowhere to go, my Cluster is all dead." he had a broken and angry look remaining in his eyes despite his mind being fixed up. "I'll be fine on my own bub, don't worry about me. First thing I'm going to do is get to a bar, drink a ton and then find some really good cigars."

"Nonsense." Charles argued, "You can come with us then." he gestured to himself, "No one should be alone, especially after something like this. You're more experienced so maybe you have some tips for me and my Cluster even."

"And what makes you think I would want any of that? Who says I don't like being alone?" the man practically growled and showed some of his teeth like an animal still, again unwavered the young brunette only smiled wider and tapped two fingers to his temple. "Because I can feel that you don't want to be alone. Even if you argue, you're going to follow us either way and you've already made up your mind about it."

Getting down to business Charles acquired through telephone tickets for everyone to go to their destinations, and then he pulled out his wallet and gave each of the young men and Logan a hundred dollar bill to go get new clothes and eat, drink, do whatever they wished before their flights. Erik could see the want on Charles' face for them to stay so he could ask them questions, get to know them, but he let them go and wander the streets with trust in his eyes.

With plenty of time before their own flights, Erik let Charles drag him to the hospital and get checked over. Both seemed to be the same, exhausted, probably a bit dehydrated, hurt but nothing that wouldn't heal. Lucky for Charles' gift he could pay the doctors and change their thoughts on what they had just seen so they wouldn't become suspicious.

Sitting in the rental car later they both ate their fill of bad and greasy fast food that was oh so satisfying. With a mouthful Charles wiped his lips with the sleeve of his newly bought shirt. "Erik, what would you say if I told you I've started thinking of opening my own school for people like us? Somewhere we can all get together, learn from one another?"

Caught off guard Erik lowered the burger in his hands away from his mouth, "I'd say...it's a nice idea but you are only nineteen Charles. I know you have the soul of an old man but come on." his tone was teasing and light, they both laughed a bit stiffly but there was warmth to it above all else. "True, just a thought."


	8. Chapter 8

February 19th, 1958

They had all tried to give themselves time to heal in both body and mind before traveling overseas, Charles had insisted on longer but only several days after coming together were they all at the airport about to say their goodbyes. Charles had grown very fond of the younger Cluster in their short time together, learning quite a bit about them and their powers with his powers and personality for conversation alike.

He would like to say they felt the same as he watched them all look at him sadly as they were about to head to their own gate and wait for their plane. Charles received a hug from each of them and a big thank you, Erik, on the other hand, got handshakes which Charles could only guess the man preferred that anyway. He and Erik hadn't talked all that much during their physical time in each others presence, something hung in the air awkwardly. Charles had only contacted Raven and Hank once to show them that he had made it out alright and tell them they planned to go visit soon.

Parting ways Charles waved at the three boys eagerly and called, "See you around!" and then turned to his two companions, each with their arms crossed in similar manners and just as similar frowns on their lips. Logan had calmed down quite a bit over the last few days as well, though unlike the younger Cluster he didn't like to divulge into his past much but Charles could feel and see some surface thoughts that constantly flowed off of the man's mind.

"We should get going to our own gate Chuck, they're practically adults and they have each other, they'll be fine." the gruff man said in a deep voice, Charles smiled at him covering up his concern. "Yes, of course, shall we Erik?" Walking between both men gave the telepath a sense of protection, like having two bodyguards and after what he'd been through he hated to admit, but he needed that feeling.

Looking at his own plane ticket Charles mumbled, "So, to the States huh? My mind is blanking um, are we going to stay with Raven or Hank?" he looked up at Erik with questioning blue eyes only to have steely ones look to connect with his. "Hank, he has a larger place and no roommates so it's less of a burden. Raven took some time off of work to come see us as well, I guess Hank wrote her a fake note from the CIA saying they needed to question her about things." a smirk grew over the man's lips at that, he seemed proud of scrawny little hank defying the law even in such a small way.

Bubbling out a small laugh Charles agreed, "How rebellious of him." Sometimes the brunette found it hard to keep his eyes off of Erik, they just seemed naturally drawn to him as if he were made of metal himself. So he all but forced his eyes to look back at Logan again, "I'm very happy you're coming with us."

"As you've said..." the man sighed out with a non-content tone. Again, Charles had grown used to it. Though they denied it every time he mentioned it, Charles knew that Logan and Erik were similar in that sort of way of not wanting others to catch on to how much they really cared. So they covered it up by cold expressions and rude comments. It always put a look of slight shock on their faces when Charles only responded with smiles and maybe a teasing word or two.

During the plane ride Charles took the middle seat between the two men again, politely declining the offer to sit at the window. Approximately the flight would take eight hours, they would be arriving sometime in the late evening in America. So after sitting up for several hours, trying to make conversation with his two anti-social companions, Charles gave up and leaned back trying to nap. In his sleep and with the motion of the plane he had started to tip, his head gently leaning against Logan's arm as a peaceful sleep washed over him.

With a snort like a bull, Erik almost muttered something possessive under his breath but settled for reaching and pulling Charles to tilt the other way and use Erik as his pillow instead. Noticing for obvious reasons Logan's lips twitched into a smug line, "Don't worry bub, I've got no interest in stealing your boyfriend from you." When Erik didn't look so sure he added, "I had someone I loved in my Cluster too but she's gone now, I'll never love anyone but her."

Nodding in agreement the younger man muttered, "Sorry to hear that." probably the most sincere thing he would get from Erik and it was good enough for both of them.

"And he's not my boyfriend...yet. I haven't asked him."

"He'll say yes. I know it's crazy how fast love can happen within Clusters, you know each other for days and weeks and you feel these emotions you didn't know you were capable of, but you are. It was the same for me and Anna Marie. Quick, but stroke emotions and trust me it only drives you insane if you lose them. Don't lose him." Logan warned but knew he didn't need to.

"I won't. That's exactly why I did what I did to find him, I won't lose him. Or the others, I'll take out anyone who tries to hurt them." he threatened the air quietly and didn't look at the other man then, his eyes softening as he gazed at Charles' sleeping face. Lips parted slightly and eyes flickering occasionally behind his eyelids. _I want to know more about him._ He thought to himself.

~.~.~.~.~

There were so many hugs exchanged, Raven had all but rushed them at the airport and hugged Charles first. Looking him over to make sure he hadn't been injured between their last mental visit and their first physical one, then she hugged Erik despite him giving her a look not to. She had even hugged Logan, who had been taken off guard and unable to move away from the unexpected gesture before it happened.

Hank, as usual, had been filled to the brim with coffee to keep him awake after working himself through the night to get ahead so he would have time off to spend with his Cluster-mates. He had extended his hand, Erik had shaken it but Charles had rolled his eyes and moved to hug him instead. It was odd, something none of them had really felt in the longest time, a true sense of belonging. Even for Logan.

That night they had all been sitting in Hank's living room and drinking, scotch and vodka seemed to be the drinks of the evening and it took almost no time for the lighter weights to get a bit drunk. Charles had announced pretty quickly, "W-We should tell each other everything about ourselves, I mean we're family now so it's only right!" Yup, definitely drunk.

"That's a dum-" "That's an amazing idea!" Raven cut Erik off in a loud voice and excited eyes, "I'll go first!" Standing up as if she was giving a presentation Raven pulled the skirt down on her blond form before letting herself change into her now normal blue skin default, no one blinked an eye at it. "So ahem! My name is Raven Darkholme, I'm nineteen, born February 1st in 1939. No biological family to speak of, grew up in an orphanage at the bad side of town in Wisconsin. Instead of going into crime like a lot of kids in that area I instead threw myself into working at a shitty waitressing job. I've got three awesome roommates, Kitty and Bobby whom I rarely see since they're always busy with...things, and each other, and Irene who is my bestee in the whole world!" she grinned at that last part. "I love her!" she announced as a finisher and the others all clapped and gave soft laughs.

"Hank! Your turn!" she pointed and took a seat back on the couch before dramatically crossing her legs and downing the last mouthful of her vodka.

"O-Oh ok um, mine isn't very exciting but here goes." he stood up like Raven had but looked much more nervous, as was expected.

"I'm Henry McCoy but I prefer Hank. I've never been close to my parents, no idea why they were nice people but we never really connected on a personal level. I left home quickly when I graduated Harvard at fifteen, got a job at the CIA pretty quickly after that, own a house and a car, paid off student loans and all that adult stuff. I also was born February 1st, 1939. Um.." he had to stop and think, holding his head as the alcohol was getting to him quicker than Raven. "I'm awful with people, never really had any true friends, I get lonely so I throw myself into work and I have a tendency to push others away so I don't embarrass myself being their friends." The others clapped and Charles smiled, "You're not alone anymore, Hank."

"Thanks Charles." he nodded, "I don't feel alone anymore either." Hank took his seat then, "How about you then Charles?"

Standing up the brunette took a down of scotch before clearing his throat. "I'm what you all would call a trust-fund baby. Charles Francis Xavier, born to my parents on February 1st, 1939. My father passed when I was only three, my mother is an alcoholic and she married a man named Kurt Marko when I turned five. He and my step-brother Cain are two of my least favorite people in the world so as soon as I was able I started going to college at Oxford and stayed in my own apartment around campus to get my degree in Genetics, I'm currently working on that. I haven't spoken to my mother, Kurt or Cain in over a year and I'd prefer to keep it that way." the man said with his smile never wavering despite all of his Cluster-mates getting the feelings pouring off of him during his little speech. Instantly they knew this Kurt Marko was far worse of a man than Charles even let on, but said nothing.

"I received my share of inheritance fully when I turned eighteen last year so you are looking at one wealthy young man!~ Erik, my dear, I think it's your turn!" he gestured to the other man trying to pull the spotlight off of himself.

Not standing up Erik rolled his eyes, "Not much to tell." But eager eyes stared at him with curiosity. "Fine. Erik Lehnsherr, February 1st, 1939 just like you guys. My parents were killed soon after us all being put in the concentration camps because we're Jewish-" that started to kill the mood, excitement in such bright eyes died out quickly. "That's where I met Shaw, he worked in the camps for a long time and now I expect he had been searching for people like us there...I was taken in after all of that by a man who taught me what I do now. How to thieve properly, I live in Berlin and I do odd for-hire illegal jobs."

A hand touched Erik's shoulder softly, Charles smiled. "Thank you for sharing Erik." They all knew it wasn't within Erik's normal natural to divulge any of those things. "Feel like sharing Logan?" the telepath asked instead of demanded.

"No." and that was that. Perhaps they were all a bit more broken than the others had anticipated, Hank's loneliness was far beyond what they had expected, Raven's want to make something out of herself coming from nothing was breathtaking but hard for a young woman in that day and age with no money. Erik's past still obviously haunted him and for good reason, you didn't just snap out of a mindset like being in a concentration camp, and Charles had very clearly suffered emotional and physical abuse at the hands of his family and avoided saying it out loud even to people he trusted dearly.

~.~.~.~.~

Visiting each other properly had been like no other experience. In the end Erik and Charles were on the same plane next to each other, heading back to Charles' flat in the UK. Logan had insisted on staying behind, Hank had begun researching their kind much like Shaw had only with good intentions. If he could have a breakthrough way of finding more of them they could warn them, help them and keep them safe from people like Shaw in the future. Logan had decided to stay to be a sort of guinea pig, give Hank DNA samples or go in for bodily scans when needed, Charles knew that the man also worried over Hank and Raven.

While Erik and Charles were going to be staying together from then on, Raven and Hank were far away and didn't have the inclination to kill on sight as Erik had. So he stayed, staying with Hank and probably would occasionally visit Raven.

Indeed, Charles had stated he would be returning to his flat and go back to catching up at school, Erik had decided to go back with him and hadn't given anyone a choice in the matter. His excuse had been he was sick of Berlin and wanted a change of scenery.

Having been there before through their mental visits Erik didn't need to look around to find things in Charles' flat when they arrived. Setting his single bag of belongings on the kitchen table he cleared his throat. "Hey Charles...I'm sure you don't have food in your fridge that isn't expired so...how about you let me take you out to dinner tonight after we settle in?"

"We could just order some take out if you're tired, no need to go out." Charles answered back as he looked around, getting his own bearings again for having been gone for a short amount of time that felt like months with what he'd been through. Stopping mid-step he blinked, "Or did you mean like a...a date?" he couldn't stop the very small blush rising to his cheeks.

"I meant a date." Erik said bluntly, "I'd had plans to ask you out for Valentines Day before everything happened. Would you like to go on a date with me, Charles? I like you quite a bit, I'm sure you knew that by now though."

"I did but only recently did I figure out it seems to be more than a physical attraction." Refusing to turn around towards the doorway where Erik stood the brunette ran a hand through his hair quickly. "I would like that, but could we order in tonight? I just want to be home...with you."

"Of course, Charles. I don't care where we are as long as you know I mean it."

For the first time the two men ate dinner, just some crappy Chinese delivery from a few blocks away on Charles' couch. Erik spoke the most Charles had ever heard from him in a single evening, they talked on end about nothing and everything, politics, religion, chess, their Cluster and the possibilities, their powers. They didn't agree on everything but there was always an agree to disagree with them with a mutual respect.

After exhausting their minds with conversation the two men had long since finished eating and instead just lounged on the couch, close together and watched junk tv play in the background. Neither of their attention was on the television, instead each kept glancing at each other out of the corners of their eyes. After a long wait, Charles turned his body more fully towards his companion. "Erik, I know this is our first date but I mean...did...would you want to-"

Warm and calloused hands touched his cheeks and soft lips were then pressing to Charles. "Thank God, I was hoping you'd ask." Taking no time Erik pushed Charles to lay back on the couch and pressed himself close. "I want to but um, I've never...not with a man before." Erik trailed several hot kisses against Charles' neck, "Doesn't matter. I'll be gentle, I'll show you how and if you want me to stop I will."

That was all the shorter man needed to hear, lifting his arms to wrap tightly around Erik's neck and pulled him into a deeper and heated kiss. "I need you! I need you to give me everything!"

As promised, Erik took his time. He was slow, gentle and even more painfully slow when Charles needed things to come to a halt to adjust. The result was more than worth it, they were pressed together as sweat coated their skin as they rocked together and soft noises echoed in the room from them both.

Clinging to his new lover's shoulder Charles gasped out, "Y-you're so beautiful Erik, a-ah..your mind i-is amazing and your body feels _so_ good in mine!"

Smiling lightly Erik muttered quietly, "Don't say such silly things when we're having sex."

And for the moment neither man thought about the troubles built in their minds. That Shaw probably wasn't dead, that there could be other Cluster's out there with wants more similar to his than theirs, the fact that none of them had true control over their abilities and had no idea how to master them, and...the fact that as they made love Charles could just faintly feel a building of energy in the back of his mind.

* * *

Sorry that this chapter was quite a bit shorter than the others but all other ideas I had written down would work far better in the sequels. I also really wanted to end it on a really happy note with just a light hint of what could be on the horizon for them.

I will probably end up re-writing this fic in its entirety so that it flows much better than how I originally wrote it. And perhaps after that I'll begin on the sequel I want to write that skips into the future with other clusters, Charles' school, him maybe creating a cluster of his own with Erik by accident. (Is that considered Mpreg if it's a mental/psychic birthing?)


End file.
